ABSTRACT
The bridge rehabilitation/replacement with conventional construction (CC) methods impacts motorized and non-motorized traffic mobility for a duration that extends from months to years. Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) concepts and methods are developed to reduce mobility impact time. ABC methods include prefabricated bridge elements and systems (PBES), slide-in bridge construction (SIBC), and self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT) moves. At present, highway agency policies have been establish to require evaluating every bridge site’s suitability for implementing ABC methods. Since the ABC is not the solution for every site, highway agencies are demanding a robust and rational process to be implemented during network level and project level scoping to identify the most preferable construction methods for selected sites. A hybrid multi-criteria decision-support model was developed and presented in this paper. The model was developed using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and accommodates quantitative as well as qualitative parameters identified through literature synthesis including post-construction and lessons learned reports and years of ABC experience of the authors. The quantitative parameters are customized based on the region specific data as well as the site-specific data. However, the qualitative parameters are judged based on the experience/knowledge from experts. The model has the ability to include additional qualitative parameters, contingent to project manager’s discretion. Further, the model incorporates a hybrid approach of integrating the region specific data, the site-specific data, and the experience/knowledge from experts to automatically perform AHP steps with reduced user input.
