This paper describes a bridge management system (BMS) developed in South Africa for various road and rail authorities including the South African National Road Agency, Spoornet (the South African rail authority), the Cape Town City Council, the Botswana Roads Department and the Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau. Each authority is responsible for the maintenance of its bridges which range in number from approximately 80 to 5000. The system has been developed for assisting in the maintenance of bridge structures. The approach taken has been different from traditional BMSs. The inspection, condition and budget modules have been based on an innovative approach to bridge inspections. Each of the 21 predefined elements of a bridge are assessed in terms of the defects (rather than the overall condition) by means of a 1 to 4 rating for Degree, Extent and Relevancy (DER). Each of these parameters is combined in the condition module to determine a priority ranking of bridges requiring repair. A remedial work sheet is used during bridge inspections to summarise the items requiring repair. Remedial work is identified with associated unit costs and this is used as input for the budget module. The DER rating enlightens the bridge manager about specific problems experienced on the bridge network. (A)
Abstract