Infrastructure assets play a critical role in delivering essential services to society over extended periods. The quality of service provided by these assets is of paramount importance; any failure to perform their intended functions can lead to profound societal repercussions. To safeguard the consistent and reliable provision of services over these timeframes, it is imperative for infrastructure managers to establish robust decision-making processes that guide their choices across the entire life cycle of these assets. Enhancing infrastructure service across their life cycle involves a multifaceted approach that encompasses, among others: (i) optimising strategic decisions related to their placement, (ii) streamlining the construction process for efficiency and (iii) maintaining a high level of service throughout their operation. In this edition of the Infrastructure Asset Management journal, we present four contributions that aspire to expand the horizons of understanding across the aforementioned domains.
With reference to infrastructure location optimisation, in the work of Sadeghi and Nouban (2023) an algorithm is proposed to determine the most suitable location to construct new commercial harbours. The algorithm is set to evaluate alternative potential locations for new harbours or ports, according to a newly introduced index, named total transportation price index (TTPI). The TTPI is based on several factors, such as the distribution of population, the transportation cost, the capacities of existing harbours and the demand for export/import cargos.
To contribute in streamlining the construction process for efficiency, Ehab El-Far et al. (2023) present a comparative study to evaluate the effect of the accelerated construction method (ACM) on project life-cycle cost. The study compares the costs and benefits over an infrastructure life cycle in Cairo (Egypt), examining scenarios where the project was realised through either the traditional construction method (TCM) or the ACM. Interestingly, results demonstrated that despite costing modestly more, the ACM reduces significantly the expected construction costs.
With reference to the need of providing a high level of service throughout the infrastructures operational phase, two contributions are published in this issue: one focusing on improving the inspection of assets (Nepomuceno et al., 2023) and one on optimising the cost for accessing the services (Ruiters and Amadi-Echendu, 2023). Nepomuceno et al. (2023) proposed a method for the visual inspection of bridges to determine defects ratings using photographic images. The effort of the study was to determine whether the defect-classification aspects of the inspection process could be conducted remotely using photographs. Ten bridges in the UK were assigned a defect rating by ten survey participants based on photographs and compared to the ratings resulting from the general inspections previously carried out for the bridges. The results are promising, demonstrating that remote inspectors can identify an even greater number of defects, compared to a traditional inspection. Ruiters and Amadi-Echendu (2023) investigated water use pricing and financing of water infrastructure, focusing on: the role of water use pricing, models for setting water use pricing – namely, charges and tariffs – and the multiplier effects of water use pricing for the financing of the water infrastructure value chain in South Africa.
Infrastructure Asset Management continues to publish high-quality works in this area of research and expects to impact this theme of research in 2023, as the number of papers we receive grows steadily. Coupled with Ahead of Print articles, we anticipate a growing success of this journal in the coming years.
