Optimization of Maintenance Strategies for the Management of the National Bridge Stock in France

Abstract

Maintenance and repair activities are crucial to prevent the deterioration of highway bridges and ensure users’ safety. In 2006, the French Ministry of Transportation initiated a survey to improve the maintenance strategies of its bridge stock. This study was justified by the introduction of new financial regulations in France. Each Ministry is now enforced to assess its performance through indicators and targets. On behalf of the Ministry of Transportation, the Roads Directorate needs to determine the preservation policy for roads and bridges based on annual quality indicators such that target values are reached for the horizon 2020. During the last decades, inspection and maintenance strategies applied on the most deteriorated engineering structures enabled to maintain an acceptable level of service and safety. However, these management strategies can obviously be largely improved. Facing these stakes, the methodology presented in this paper is elaborated to optimize the allocation of maintenance funds. The objective is to determine the global financial resources needed to satisfy the constraints on the quality indicators over the next 15 years. The proposed model is based on Markov chains fitted to condition data collection. By including prediction models in the cost analysis, different maintenance strategies are evaluated. Applied to the French national bridge stock, the procedure shows that a slight increase of the annual budget is required to fulfill the asset performance requirements fixed by the Roads Directorate.