New opportunities for bridge management using independent datasets

Abstract

Bridge managers have increasingly utilised databases to aid in the efficient allocation of resources. For the most part, these databases have been compiled from existing bridge management tools such as bridge inspection records and historical bridge information. However, this trend of utilising databases is not limited to bridge management, with organisations such as the Rivers Agency, Health Services and Census agency data also utilising their own databases. The linking of such datasets can pose a challenge; bridges are generally given a unique identifier that can be used to match any information collected to that particular bridge. However, if the data sets are independent of each other, they must rely on other common factors such as location. This paper investigates methods for combining various types of datasets and the opportunities that may arise when these databases are linked. Specifically, what new factors, which are not included in the original data, can be obtained when utilising various sources. Using multiple datasets, such as bridge, traffic and river data, bridge properties can be estimated to influence bridge management decisions. These properties include an estimation of detour length if the bridge were to close and the river catchment area of the bridge. These properties could then be used to find the most critical bridges in the network or to help determine if a bridge is susceptible to scour from river flow. This work gives some examples of how independent datasets can be linked and the new information that can result from this. The focus of this work has been on bridge and river data, but other datasets such as public transport or health resources could also be used in the bridge management process.