Optimum Fund Allocation to Rehabilitate Transportation Infrastructure
Over a trillion dollars is invested in the nation's mostly aging infrastructure through various bonds and public funds. Most of that is spent on new construction and replacement of old infrastructure. It can be convincingly argued that it would be more cost effective over the long term to spend a good portion of these investments in taking a proactive course in managing the maintenance processes of the infrastructure rather than waiting and being forced to merely reacting to disruptive incidences. The importance of a proactive maintenance management policy becomes more pronounced when considering a vital transportation system such as that of highways networks and bridges. This importance emanates from the fact that an unexpected failure of a component of one of these complex systems usually creates disruptions which could have cascading effects leading not only to havoc and its consequences of inconveniences, but also to major economic effects requiring colossal expenditure to contain the damages incurred from such premature failures. Various maintenance treatments are employed by transportation agencies to slow deterioration and restore condition of pavements, bridges, culverts, signs and other physical assets. However, budget constraints and other factors have often led to delaying or eliminating the application of these treatments. Such actions are expected to adversely influence the condition and performance and lead to a reduced level of service, to early deterioration, and eventually to the need for costly rehabilitation or replacement. Analytical tools are currently available to quantify the consequences of delayed application of maintenance treatments for highway pavements, bridges, and other assets. However, processes for using these tools to demonstrate the potential savings and performance enhancement resulting from applying maintenance treatments at the right time and also optimum allocation of funds are not readily available. Hence research is needed to develop such process. This information will help highway agencies better assess the economic benefits of maintenance actions and their role in enhancing the level of service of transportation infrastructure. In addition, incorporating these processes in asset management systems would provide a means for optimizing the allocation of resources.
Language
- English
Project
- Status: Completed
- Funding: $103889.00
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Contract Numbers:
49997-26-24
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Sponsor Organizations:
University Transportation Research Center
City College of New York
Marshak Hall, Suite 910, 160 Convent Avenue
New York, NY United States 10031 -
Project Managers:
Eickemeyer, Penny
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Performing Organizations:
New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
University Heights
Newark, NJ United States 07102-1982 -
Principal Investigators:
Meegoda, Jay
- Start Date: 20120901
- Expected Completion Date: 0
- Actual Completion Date: 20140331
- Source Data: RiP Project 33102
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Asset management; Bridges; Culverts; Deterioration; Economic benefits; Pavements; Rehabilitation; Service life
- Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Economics; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01490375
- Record Type: Research project
- Source Agency: University Transportation Research Center
- Contract Numbers: 49997-26-24
- Files: UTC, RIP
- Created Date: Aug 21 2013 1:00AM