When actions are required to maintain or repair our infrastructure, it is necessary to make a number of decisions. There are often various alternatives which can be selected, and the question is how it is possible to know which option is most beneficial from a socio-economic perspective.

In the BIG BRO project the main objective is to develop and implement a novel framework for decision support in order to take rational and scientifically based decisions regarding maintenance of bridges. For example, it is difficult to know whether a bridge should be repaired immediately upon a detected damage, or if it is useful to do further assessments and see if the actual load-bearing capacity is higher than was assumed initially.

BIG BRO utilizes expertise from various fields, such as measurement technology and monitoring, advanced modelling, reliability analysis and decision theory. The main idea is to use the information collected from bridges as efficiently as possible.

There are established theories that can be used to evaluate different decisions where it is possible to base the decision on likelihoods of various events and their consequences. In order to apply such theoretical models in practice, they need to be adapted to the actual problem which is not always straightforward.

BIG BRO integrates the updating of information about the asset with the decision making about operation and maintenance. This is done in a practical way and aimed to support the owners and the operators of transport infrastructure.

The holsitic approach contributes to the development of next generation condition assessment and maintenance of infrastructure: the project enables the use of data-driven maintenance for transportation ifrastructure becuse it builds on extensive data to be obtained through e.g. monitoring of bridges.

BIG BRO, with the rational decision support, makes it possible to distinguish between different decision options and to see which one is optimal concerning resource efficency  and provides the greatest benefit.

Improved efficiency in the operation, maintenance and management of infrastructure will also improve the competitiveness of the Swedish construction industry and infrastructure. 

Furthermore, the improved availability of road network will have a positive effect on all related industries, e.g. in case of bridges managed by forest owners the innovative effects will directly impact the Swedish forestry in their decision making.