Development of a decision support framework for timber bridge remediation

The progressive deterioration of timber bridges has become a pressing concern for transportation authorities and road safety delegations worldwide. As these structures age, their structural degradation intensifies, increasing the risk of failure. It is crucial to monitor and maintain these infrastructure items while considering ever-increasing dynamic structural loading. This complexity arises from the broad spectrum of available remedial actions for timber bridges, coupled with the need to meet various constraints and criteria, thereby complicating the decision-making process. To address this challenge, a novel two-level Decision Support System (DSS) framework is proposed, which combines network-level ranking and project-level decision-making to aid asset managers, consultants, and engineers in determining the most effective remedial solution. This study aims to develop a novel DSS for timber bridge remedial modeling by employing the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique, as a robust multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method. The resulting model serves as an optimization tool, offering optimal alternatives tailored to specific requirements, such as funding limitations, time constraints, and environmental regulations.