Road agency inventories in Australia and New Zealand include approximately 50,000 structures that are being managed as bridges. In Australia and New Zealand on arterial roads alone, the value of structures being managed as bridges exceeds A$10b, and annual expenditure on bridge maintenance is of the order of A$100m. This report contains the main findings from a literature search in mid-200l on bridge management, with emphasis on the capability of bridge management systems being used by public sector road agencies around the world. It outlines bridge management system practice in around 40 road agencies in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australasia, and summarises the functions, advantages and limitations of 11 of the more accomplished bridge management systems. The report raises issues such as bridge management based on minimum condition criteria or on `fit for purpose' criteria in terms of safety, reliability and economics. The report includes an extensive bibliography on bridge management. (Author/publisher)
Abstract