Teresa M. Adams, Ph.D.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1415 Engineering Drive, 2205 EH
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: (608) 263-3175
Fax: (608) 263-2512

The goals of this research are to identify/develop tools for using the bridge Health Index (HI) in a comprehensive bridge management system and specifically for decision-making in the context of a bridge preventive maintenance program. This research will implement the bridge HI on individual bridges and networks of bridges.

WisDOT would like to investigate the potential uses of the recently developed bridge Health Index within a comprehensive Bridge Management System (BMS) in general and more specifically, for decision-making in the context of a preventive maintenance program. Through literature and interviews, the Research Team will prepare an “implementation guidelines” document that describes State agencies’ experiences and processes using the HI for bridge management. The scope of the guidelines will include experiences in relating the health index to preventive maintenance, implementation issues and criteria, and recommendations. The project includes quantitative and qualitative assessments of the HI for measuring the impact of preventive maintenance actions on increasing long term asset value and extending the expected life of bridges. This project addresses issues of implementation feasibility by demonstrating the health index forecasting and models possibly as a spreadsheet tool, and then illustrated with actual data from at least one region.

Task 1: Health Index Definition

Task 2: Health Index Implementation Guidelines

Task 3: Analyze Health Index of Midwest Bridges

Task 4: Tools for Modeling Impact of Preventive Maintenance

Task 5: Demonstration of Modeling Tools (Sample Implementation)

Task 6: Prepare Final Report

12 months; project end 6/30/08