01657916

Component

State-level bridge expenditure forecasts are used by state agencies for the purpose of long-term planning and budgeting, infrastructure user cost allocation, and, financial need forecasts. It has been observed that bridge expenditure data vary across the states and across time periods. There is a need to investigate the underlying causes of this variation so that bridge managers can better estimate their expected costs. In addressing this need, this article constructed average bridge expenditure models based on bridge condition, bridge inventory, relative traffic loading, and climatic factors collected for all states between the years 2003 and 2012. Results indicate there is statistically significant variation in the cross-sectional and time-series data that is best accounted for using panel-data modeling techniques. The article quantifies the increase in expected expenditure per bridge due to factors including an increase in traffic loading, annual temperature, and precipitation and a decrease in the bridge superstructure and substructure condition. A one year time lag was used for the independent variables to ensure exogeneity of the expenditure data. Lastly, the results indicate there are economies of scale in state-level bridge expenditures of the magnitude of a $1,157 reduction in the per bridge expenditure for every additional 100,000m2 of bridge deck inventory

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AHD35 Standing Committee on Bridge Management. Alternate title: Estimation of Annual Bridge Repair Expenditure: An Exploratory Analysis Using Fixed and Random Effects Specifications.

18-04358

English

6p

2018

Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Bridges; Econometric models; Estimating; Expenditures; Highway maintenance; Maintenance

Bridges and other structures; Finance; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2018 Paper #18-04358

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jan 8 2018 11:04AM