A South African perspective on Bridge maintenance management

Abstract

Paper presented at the 23rd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 12 - 15 July 2004 "Getting recognition for the importance of transport", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa. A Bridge Management System enables road authorities to manage the allocation of limited available funds for maintenance of the infrastructure. This paper presents the results of the most recent series of inspections of four local authorities in South Africa. The results include bridge condition information and funding needs. It is observed that of all bridge components considered when the condition rating of a bridge is determined, those components related to the road, road approaches and waterways are the components with the highest need for maintenance for the four authorities considered in this paper. The number of bridges inspected is a function of the funds available for inspection and maintenance. Not all bridges have been inspected for all the authorities considered. In order to generate accurate network predictions, it is required that all the bridges in a network be inspected, and that the data be captured. With the shortage of maintenance funding available, authorities tend to address only critical current problems. Exact figures of maintenance expenditure are not available, but it is most probable that current maintenance spending falls far short of the requirements. It is shown to what extend the bridge networks can deteriorate over a 25 to 30 years period if adequate maintenance funds are not available.