A new bridge management system based on spatial database and open source GIS

Abstract

Bridge management is a complex and challenging task at global scale. The main purpose of bridge management is to facilitate the identification of bridge deficiencies in order to carefully plan and execute maintenance operations, and ensure the continued safety of traffic. In 2020, the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure issued mandatory guidelines for risk classification and management, safety assessment and monitoring of bridges. These guidelines rely upon bridge inventory, which includes a number of heterogeneous inspection data organized in different files. This paper presents a hardware and software architecture for the automatic entry of all inspection data (e.g. spatial information, sheets and photos) in a relational spatial database and their visualization through a Desktop and Web GIS (Geographic Information System) application. The procedure is summarized in a new Bridge Management System (BMS), whose main novelty is the full control of the georeferenced infrastructures, with the opportunity of improving the status check and management of bridges and their components. The BMS has been developed using data collected during inspection surveys requested by the Consortium of Sicilian Highways on the conditions of the bridges and viaducts belonging to motorways in Sicily (Italy). The developed system overcomes most of the common limitations in existing BMSs, such as the limited capacity of visualizing geospatial data and the reduced supported data formats, providing a valid Decision Support System in evaluating and prioritizing repair and maintenance actions.