 Bridges. They've been around for a long time, helping people to get from here to there. A large fraction of the nation's bridges were built before the 1960s and now face the demands of normal aging and ever-increasing traffic. Many of these bridges have become functionally obsolete and there is broad concern about operational safety and convenience. As a result, bridge maintenance and improvement needs are increasing at the same time that funding is drying up. Now more than ever, bridge managers need systematic procedures and tools to derive the most return for the dollar spent. Now there is a federally funded bridge management system that is designed to be flexible enough to aid any agency in the more sophisticated procedures for managing bridges. Pontus puts the vast resources of the computer to work in our effort to ensure safe operational bridges for the motorist. We are fully committed to the adoption of bridge management systems. We in Federal Highways look forward to working with our state partners to launch Pontus and really the age of bridge management. Pontus is a new generation of bridge management system. Using state-of-the-art modeling techniques and optimization procedures and a detailed bridge database, Pontus can predict bridge deterioration, find the most cost-effective actions to correct the problem, select appropriate bridges for improvement and replacement, and help in scheduling the work. It can even learn from actual experience and automatically adjust itself over time. Pontus gives you sound economic backing for bridge budgets and program decisions. Pontus utilizes a new bridge description and condition rating system. This new system is more detailed than the existing system, yet it's also less subjective and easier to use. To appreciate the sophistication of Pontus, it's important to look at the variables it has to handle. Bridges are built in many different styles. They're also constructed of a variety of materials and are even painted differently. For Pontus to work effectively, all of these factors have to be studied. That task was accomplished in part by a unique committee of officials from FHWA, TRB, six different states and consultants. The committee spent two years compiling and quantifying this information. The results were incorporated in an intuitive, thorough, user-friendly management system that is supported by the federal government for use in all the states. All of the tools in Pontus are accessible from this one set of menus, which are very easy to use. Pontus has an open modular design that can be tailored to fit any agency's organizational processes. Pontus is capable of evolving and changing as your needs change. Before using Pontus, you'll need to set up a database. This simple procedure lets you transfer data from sources outside of Pontus and is designed to be done in-house. You can easily tailor the procedure to transfer your existing inventory and inspection data to Pontus. You can also add supplemental data from other sources such as traffic and accident reports. Once the database is completed, you can print out a data collection sheet for use during the actual inspection. The Pontus description and rating system is more detailed than the National Bridge Inventory and extremely logical from an engineering standpoint. Using Pontus to do a bridge inspection really isn't very much different than what most states do now. Now, here's an interesting bridge. You see we have steel-framed vents supporting steel girders with a concrete deck. We have a steel outrigger bent in the background. Some rocker bearings at the base of that vent pin and hanger details in the girder system. In the past, we would have evaluated these just in three pieces, the deck, the superstructure and the substructure. But all of these are elements in Pontus and we can evaluate each of these things separately and bring them back together at the project level to determine the best strategy for this bridge. Once you have identified the proper elements of a bridge, you're ready for the inspection process. For each element, relevant engineering language defines up to five stages of deterioration. Visual inspection of the bridge indicates a condition state one at this time. I haven't found any elements yet that would drop the rating to a condition state two, and I'll proceed my investigation. Now I find a portion, the last ten lineal feet of this bridge shows me it's a condition state two. The paint is beginning to chip and peel and the system is beginning to break down at this location. I have a manual with all these definitions laid out for me and Pontus prints a form listing the elements on this bridge. I just record the amount of each element in the appropriate column. Once the inspection is complete, you simply input the information into Pontus. Entering data is very easy. The program has built-in and custom validation to prevent errors. Because of the software's open architecture, data collection can even be customized to use computerized field data entry equipment. This flexibility allows you to electronically transfer your data to the computer, eliminating key punch mistakes. While data collection is an important innovation in Pontus, its real skill is in helping you develop programs for maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, improvement and replacement. Pontus has a set of models and solution methods to predict future conditions with or without actions. These can be created and updated using built-in statistical methods or by filling out a computerized questionnaire. The modeling approach to Pontus is based on a few items. To separate the functional improvement decision mechanism from maintenance, repair and rehabilitation. For maintenance, repair and rehabilitation, we look at each element separately and treat it as an ongoing concern. This allows us to find a frequency and choice of action for each element that offsets deterioration and minimizes the long-term costs. If we spend less on preventive maintenance, then we have to spend more on major maintenance and rehabilitation in the long run. The model has the ability to take these factors into consideration and balance them. And they predict how much the cost would be if we delay the optimal repair strategies. Now with functional improvements, we are not concerned with deterioration, but with user cost and convenience. The results of these two optimization mechanisms are then brought together to specify what should be done for each bridge. Using its completed database for reference, Pontus offers automated procedures which can identify functional deficiencies and provide rough cost estimates for improvements. For example, Pontus could identify bridges with specific problems, such as weight restrictions, vertical and horizontal clearance, and estimate the improvement costs. Another automated procedure estimates the excess costs incurred by road users due to rerouting and related user inconvenience. This tells us in economic terms the benefits of improvement actions. Finally, Pontus offers a tool to set priorities for functional improvements. It combines them with maintenance, repair and rehabilitation needs on each bridge and then decides if replacement of the whole bridge is in order. Then it schedules the projects to accomplish the greatest benefit within funding constraints using the economic results and a multi-year simulation. The result is a much more structured analytical approach to bridge management. Utilizing the power of computers, Pontus makes annual updating a simple process. When jobs are completed, you simply record the actions taken. This information is then added to the database and historically archived. You can start using Pontus right away by basing deterioration estimates on your own judgment, but this historical data allows Pontus to go back automatically, look at historical data and improve its ability to predict bridge deterioration. No other system has that capability. And as your agency's needs change, Pontus can change with you. You can add new reports, change old ones and even add or modify models without being a computer programmer. Pontus is a readily available tool to be used as part of your comprehensive effort to adapt modern bridge management practices to an aging bridge inventory. As you determine your own organization's needs, you can readily customize Pontus to fit, even if you need to adapt it to a different computer platform. Finally, FHWA is taking steps to ensure that Pontus will be continually supported and enhanced as needed. Bridge management is a critical task and Pontus gives you the comprehensive tools to deal with it effectively. These tools include element condition descriptions in precise engineering language, state-of-the-art deterioration models and automated procedures to update them, long-term optimization of maintenance, repair and rehabilitation, quantifying of the benefit of functional improvements, economically sound priority setting and multi-year simulation of needs, and highly user-friendly software that can easily be customized to meet any state's needs. Pontus can help you to make informed bridge program decisions and stretch your limited budget to achieve the greatest benefit.