Date of Award

January 2015

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Civil Engineering

First Advisor

Samuel Labi

Committee Member 1

Kumares C Sinha

Committee Member 2

Thomas L Morin

Committee Member 3

Amr A Kandil

Abstract

Highway agencies have a fiduciary responsibility for cost-effective upkeep of highway assets worth trillions of dollars. A critical aspect of this stewardship is the ability to make informed decisions regarding the scheduling of interventions geared to enhance infrastructure capacity and structural integrity or to maintain a state of good repair. Development of such schedules which are time-based or condition-based, often proceeds with the implicit assumption that a certain asset-related parameter of volatility will continue to follow a certain pattern on the basis of observed past trends. However, given the uncertain nature of the asset environment, it is often the case that the economic attractiveness of an investment determined at the analysis year may not be the same over time. In some cases, it is possible to scale back, defer, or expand the investment at a future time in order to avoid excessive losses or to capture additional rewards; in other cases, it is not easy to scale back, defer, or expand. As stewards of taxpayer money, highway agencies place great value on any flexibility they may be granted to exercise these options.

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