This report presents a review of research and experience of OECD Member countries in bridge management and in developing Bridge Management Systems (BMS). Bridge management covers all activities aimed at ensuring the safety and functionality of bridges from inspection and maintenance to strengthening and reconstruction. A bridge management system using a data bank is a tool encompassing all engineering and management functions that are necessary to efficiently carry out bridge operations and rationalise the choice of optimum improvements to the bridge network. The report is a broad-based review undertaken since February 1989 by an Expert Group of the OECD Road Transport Research programme, having as principal aims to summarise current practice and develop guiding principles for engineers, managers and decision-makers of road and bridge agencies. The report consists of the following Chapters: I. Introduction; II. Optimisation of inspection; III. Optimisation of maintenance; IV. Prediction of deterioration and service life; V. Bridge data banks; VI. Bridge management systems; and VII. Guiding principles for bridge management policies. Three Appendices review: A. Human resources necessary for a bridge data bank; B. Examples of BMS model developments; and C. Research recommendations. The report takes full account of previous OECD relevant studies and synthesises up-to-date practice of Member countries' administration in gradually developing and implementing network-oriented bridge management systems on the basis of the experience gained with traditional project-level approaches.
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