A bridge management system (BMS) is a means for managing

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

s throughout

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

operation Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

and

maintenance Maintenance may refer to: Biological science * Maintenance of an organism * Maintenance respiration Non-technical maintenance * Alimony, also called ''maintenance'' in British English * Champerty and maintenance, two related legal doctrine ...

of the bridges. As funds available become tighter, road authorities around the world are facing challenges related to bridge management and the escalating maintenance requirements of large infrastructure assets. Bridge management systems help agencies to meet their objectives, such as building inventories and inspection databases, planning for maintenance, repair and rehabilitation (MR&R) interventions in a systematic way, optimizing the allocation of financial resources, and increasing the safety of bridge users. The major tasks in bridge management are: collection of

inventory Inventory (American English) or stock (British English) refers to the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate goal of resale, production or utilisation. Inventory management is a discipline primarily about specifying the shap ...

data; inspection; assessment of condition and strength; repair, strengthening or replacement of components; and prioritizing the allocation of funds. A BMS is a means of managing bridge information to formulate maintenance programs within cost limitations. A BMS includes four basic components: data storage, cost and deterioration models, optimization and analysis models, and updating functions. &

References

Bridges Construction Transportation engineering Technology systems Information systems Management systems {{engineering-stub