Citywide Bridge Asset Management Program

Benesch worked alongside long-time client the City of Kansas City, Missouri, to develop and implement a Bridge Asset Management Program. The program established provided foundational tools and strategies to addresses immediate needs, without sacrificing the long-term sustainability of the City’s network.

Benesch integrated asset management best practices endorsed by APWA, FHWA and ISI, alongside a suite of available technologies, in order to develop a streamlined, electronic process that has saved thousands of manhours on assessing bridge assets. Integration of new data collection, storage and application tools have enhanced consistency of inspections, estimating, prioritization and planning, while making quality control and data validation a systemic application throughout the process. Automation and reference database tools eliminate the primary source of errors such as repeated data input. GIS applications, deterioration forecasting, logic-based triggering of “work actions” and consistent evaluation criteria provide faster, more accurate, decision matrices. Incorporation of ROI evaluations, risk assessments and financial strategies result in data-driven decision making.

A new 10-Year CIP Tool applies live data updated by on-going inspections and maintenance activities for a defendable, repeatable process. An annual bridge maintenance program implementing “planned activities” was also initiated. New maintenance details and specifications were created to simplify plan production and facilitate opportunities for economies of scale pertaining to bridge actions needed across multiple structures.

The city’s program exemplifies the application of data-driven, value-based, innovative solutions to the overarching challenge facing all asset owners: how to maintain, preserve, and extend the functional/operational lives of aging infrastructure while confronting increasing financial competition for finite resources.