Development of the Swedish bridge management system by upgrading and expanding the use of LCC

Although many bridge management systems (BMSs) contain some forms of life-cycle costing (LCC), the use of LCC in bridge engineering is limited. Life-cycle costing in many BMSs has mainly been applied within the bridge operation phase to support decisions related to existing bridges. Life-cycle costing has several useful applications within the bridge entire life, from cradle to grave. This article introduces the Swedish Bridge and Tunnel Management System (BaTMan). A comprehensive integrated LCC implementation scheme will be illustrated, taking into account the bridge investment and management process in Sweden. The basic LCC analysis tools as well as other helpful techniques are addressed. A real case study is presented to demonstrate the recent improvement of BaTMan practically in the function of whether to repair or to replace a bridge. Cost records for 2508 bridges are used as input data in the presented case study. Considering the same records, the average real and anticipated initial costs of different bridge types in Sweden will schematically be presented.