A multi-criteria analysis for bridge sustainability assessment: a case study of Penang Second Bridge, Malaysia

Abstract

Bridges are a critical part of our nation's economic prosperity and local community well-being. One of the latest trends in bridge engineering is sustainable design, which is designing so that resources are available for many generations to come. Sustainable design considers the ecological, economic and socio-cultural environments and works to balance all three. There are some sustainable infrastructure rating systems (RSs) available, such as Envision that can be applied to bridges. However, no system has been developed that would specifically apply to bridge sustainability assessment. The objectives of this study are first, to investigate bridge sustainability issues from three main aspects: environmental, economical and social; and second, to apply multi-criteria analysis to assess the sustainability of the Penang Second Bridge in Malaysia. A hierarchy structure of the sustainable bridge attributes was developed for each RS, and an analytical hierarchy process method was then applied for the appraisal of the sustainability of a bridge pertaining to the relative attributes. The research involved a committee of Malaysian bridge professionals to support the rational decision-making. The results reveal that the case study has achieved most of the criteria of the sustainability assessments.