NBIAS
Predict Bridge Performance and Needs

Cambridge Systematics developed the National Bridge Investment Analysis System (NBIAS) — an analysis tool to predict nationwide bridge maintenance, improvement, and replacement needs — to support development of a national bridge strategy by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). A powerful modeling tool, NBIAS helps forecast bridge performance on more than 50 measures of effectiveness over a multi-year period for a range of budgeting levels.

Built on the proven maintenance and improvement models of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Pontis® Bridge Management System (BMS) originally developed by Cambridge Systematics in 1989, NBIAS allows national agencies to see bridge maintenance needs at an aggregated level for more than 500,000 bridges.

Allows Powerful Sensitivity Analysis

With a flexible and intuitive graphically-based interface, NBIAS enables “what if” analysis, forecasting how the condition of the national bridge network will vary based on different levels of investment. Equally powerful, the system will quantify the annual budget level required to hit a specified target level for a selected performance measure.

With the release of version 3.3 and other recent versions, we’ve added:

• Support for bridge-level analysis
• Implementation of a relational database for storing bridge inventory data and results
• Ability to import element level data
• Default deterioration models specified by climate zone
• State-specific cost adjustment factors
• New reporting interface
• Expanded tools for “what if” analysis

Benefits

• Simplifies bridge capital analysis through robust modeling tools and a flexible and intuitive graphical interface
• Demonstrates the impact of budget alternatives with graphical and tabular displays of all performance measures affected
• Quantifies in real time the annual budget levels required to achieve specific targets for up to 50 performance measures

Additional Information

For additional information, contact William Robert, Principal, 617 354 0167.