Economic Evaluation Model for Post-Earthquake Repair/Rehabilitation of Bridge

Taiwan’s location in a zone of strong seismic activity means that earthquakes regularly threaten human life and transportation facilities. The importance of bridges in Taiwan’s transportation grid makes the destruction or damage of such during earthquakes impact significantly on people’s livelihood. However, within the grid, the importances of individual bridges differ from one another in terms of their importance/impact on society. Therefore, a key element in reducing overall economic costs is determining in a quick and efficient manner which bridges deserve priority consideration for immediate repair/rehabilitation following a destructive natural incident. Thus, this research establishes an economic evaluation model for post-earthquake bridge repair/rehabilitation to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of decision making. Engineering and additional travel costs are then assessed to evaluate the lowest cost and shortest time within all repair/rehabilitation schemes in order to identify and define the optimal emergency plan.