Development of Risk-Based Bridge Maintenance Prioritization Methodology

Collapse or breakage of a bridge generally causes considerable damage and social loss to the users. Therefore, it is critical to maintain a certain level of bridge performance. In addition, regular maintenance work should be performed for key bridges and countermeasures should be rapidly taken if a bridge is found to have a problem. As many of the bridges in South Korea have been publicly used for many years and are aged, the maintenance cost is expected to increase significantly. The government and relevant administrative authorities need a method to efficiently distribute limited budgetary resources and reasonably determine the maintenance priorities. The present study developed a risk-based maintenance prioritization methodology by identifying 14 general risk factors causing damage to bridges and the assessment criteria and weight for the risk factors were determined by conducting a literature review and expert consultation. A general-purpose risk-based prioritization model is presented using an Excel sheet to support user convenience. The model of the present study was developed to compensate the conventional maintenance prioritization method used by management authorities. The present model may be used for more reasonable bridge maintenance prioritization in combination with the conventional method.