Development of culvert risk condition evaluation for decision-making within road infrastructure management

Abstract

Regarding road infrastructure management systems, culverts need to be assessed in order to avoid failures and road collapses. So, periodic inspections framework and condition rating implementation has an important role for life service estimation and reliability evaluation. In addition, the risk can be avoided through condition rating merged with culverts exposure and vulnerabilities. This will provide information to support decision-making and prioritize interventions. In this paper a new approach for decision-making process is presented taking into consideration the global risk index (αG). The proposal includes a set of culverts descriptors, weight attribution and aggregation rules complying with external factors such as hazards, condition rates and consequences. Moreover, a case study with 25 different systems is conducted to qualitatively assess culverts global risk index and prioritize needed interventions.