A business case for risk-informed bridge monitoring using the value of information

Abstract

While the benefits of monitoring bridges are fairly understood, securing the resources necessary for their development and installation is often difficult. The premise of the article is that infrastructure owners will take action to provide those resources when they can see value accruing to them; therefore narratives around value generation and business cases are required to motivate and support that action. This paper explores the application of the value of information methodology to the challenge of developing a business case for bridge monitoring using an illustrative case study on a simulacrum of a road bridge in the UK. To this end, this paper presents a systematic approach for setting risk-informed bridge monitoring strategies while considering the reliability and accuracy of data capture offered by different monitoring techniques and the gains to be made downstream if it contributes to setting timely maintenance strategies.