00738824

Component

Many states are investigating their sign structures and establishing maintenance management programs for them. Because these structures have technical characteristics and potential problems which departments of transportation have not dealt with in the past, they present new management challenges. Some states have chosen to initiate specialized training programs for those personnel involved in sign structure inspection. Some states have also developed inspection procedures specifically for these structures. Many of these signs are orphans. Some have been in place for years with no maintenance performed on them. The ownership of many signs, i.e., state ownership versus local ownership, is in doubt. Even where the governmental agency jurisdiction and ownership is not in doubt, the responsibility of a particular department within the agency for sign structure inspection may be in question. Bridge engineering and maintenance departments are often fully occupied with "normal" bridge structures, while traffic departments who maintain the signs on those structures do not have the necessary expertise to conduct structural inspections. As a result, many agencies have had to examine the question of responsibility for the inspection, evaluation and maintenance of sign structures. A sign structure management program should include training of inspectors and program managers; identification of sign structures; development of an inventory of structures; development of inspection procedures with standardized inspection reporting and rating systems; selection of inspection frequency; and development of a maintenance program. Since, for most organizations, currently available collected information for their structures is minimal, there is an opportunity to specifically design an inspection and reporting system to employ the latest in inspection techniques as well as the latest computerization. With recent improvements in field data gathering methods and data bases, there is also an opportunity to establish a comprehensive data base system that includes inventory, inspection and maintenance data in a readily available and useful format.

This preprint was duplicated from a camera-ready copy provided by the author(s) and has not been subjected to the formal TRB peer review process or edited.

PREPRINT D-4

English

12p

1997

Eighth AASHTO/TRB Maintenance Management Conference

Figures (4)

Data collection; Databases; Information processing; Inspection; Inspectors; Inventory; Maintenance management; Reports; Sign supports; Signs; Training

Reporting

Education and Training; Freight Transportation; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; I61: Equipment and Maintenance Methods

TRIS, TRB

Jul 3 1997 12:00AM