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The establishment of clear performance measures can help agencies to assess the extent to which a bridge program, project, or policy has succeeded or is expected to succeed in achieving intended goals and objectives. Chosen properly, a set of performance measures can adequately describe the full consequences of competing bridge actions and thereby help identify the most desirable. Typical bridge management goals and performance measures considered by bridge decision makers are identified. The research summarizes the best practices in quantifying a number of performance measures related to these goals. There is discussion of desirable properties not only of individual performance measures but also of any set of performance measures intended for any particular bridge evaluation problem.

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Bridge Information Modelling (BrIM) was introduced to bridge enterprise stakeholders in design, construction, operations and management. These stakeholders are increasingly realizing that a well thought out leveraging of bridge data for multiple purposes through the entire bridge life cycle is important. This paper surveys the genesis and development of BrIM supported by NSBA, NCHRP, AASHTO, and FHWA. This includes aspects that distinguish it from its close cousin, Building Information Modeling (BIM). Principal questions, issues, and challenges that have been raised by various stakeholders about BrIM are summarized in this paper to help clarify the way forward to increased industry acceptance and deployment of BrIM-enabled workflow.

The current U.S. practice of information transfer during the bridge design, fabrication, construction, and operation processes is fragmented. These processes involve repeated manual transcription of data, which is error prone; approvals (e.g., of shop drawings) that are time-consuming; and formats that beg for standardization to facilitate electronic information transfer. Without such standards, electronic information exchange is impossible. This paper surveys the shortcomings of current piecemeal applications of information and automation technologies. It then explores the promise of parametric three-dimensional bridge information modeling as an enabling technology for accelerating the design and delivery of bridges and articulates aspects of the envisioned accelerated bridge delivery process for two purposes: to provide a glimpse of current technologies available to streamline the process of bridge delivery and to articulate anticipated advances that can be expected to facilitate accelerated bridge delivery. In lieu of a complete industrywide modeling of bridge information in a standardized format, savvy bridge design–build teams can be expected to obtain a competitive advantage by integration of computer-aided design, computer-aided engineering, and computer-integrated manufacturing, which will result in rapid and better-quality project delivery and subsequent cost-effective life-cycle management. As a result, all three fundamental objectives of bridge delivery would be expected to be attained: higher quality, faster delivery, and greater economy.