Spokes: MEDIUM: MIDWEST: Smart Big Data Pipeline for Aging Rural Bridge Transportation Infrastructure (SMARTI)

University Of Nebraska At Omaha, Omaha NE

Investigators

Abstract

America's bridges received a C+ from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 2017. Additionally, the US ranks only 11th world-wide in terms of infrastructure competitiveness. America's infrastructure, particularly its 50-100+ year-old bridges, is in poor health, representing a hidden crisis. Rural areas, due to their lower population density and distance from urban centers, are acutely affected by this crisis, particularly in terms of public safety and economic growth. Limited budgets for planning and maintenance only serve to exacerbate the crisis. To better inform future research, the research team held collaborative conferences and workshops, and conducted stakeholder surveys to identify issues impacting rural bridge health. Outcomes from these activities underscored the value of big data technologies to address the crisis and informed the proposed work. The mission of this multi-institution and multi-sector project is to produce a big data pipeline for rural bridge health management that improves transportation network performance and enhances safety. The research team will combine existing and new datasets to address challenges of relevance to bridge owners using scalable and replicable big data pipeline components. Activities will inform bridge owner decision-making by integrating existing datasets and data collected using next-generation health monitoring technologies (e.g., contact and non-contact sensors, unmanned aerial vehicles) with innovative data management techniques. Socio-technical impacts associated with potential decisions will also be assessed. Aging, rural bridge testbeds will be selected in consultation with public and private owners to produce data products that facilitate decision-making and ultimately, provide economical and reliable solutions that improve bridge health. Results from the research will be shared with engineers, owners, and builders at workshops hosted by the research team. Project findings will be disseminated through publications, conferences, meetings, and forums. The research team will engage with the Big Data Hubs and Spokes network to make data, methods, and results available across regions. By extension, project findings will also benefit activities used to monitor and manage other important infrastructure assets, including highways, buildings, power grids, offshore oil platforms, water networks, and other civil infrastructures. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.