Decision-making for Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) Projects

Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) techniques are rapidly gaining acceptance as an alternative to conventional construction for reducing construction duration to mitigate congestion. Traffic disruption due to construction has been reduced to several hours with the development of state-of-the art construction technologies compared to conventional bridge construction techniques that required months of restricted traffic movements. However, ABC is not the solution to every bridge project. A bridge construction method for a specific site needs to be selected through a rational process. The process of construction method selection needs to be supported by a mathematical process that utilizes tangible bridge construction parameters, site-specific qualitative and quantitative data, and the experience in the form of preference ratings. The Michigan Accelerated Bridge Construction Decision-Making (Mi-ABCD) process was developed along with a software platform to address this pressing need. This article presents an overview of the software and its application for a bridge site.