| Abstract | Today, there exists an estimated $33 trillion worth of constructed assets in North America, with 20 percent of that asset base invested in municipal infrastructure. In North America and Australia, there are hundreds of billions of dollars in backlogged maintenance, and a large portion of the asset base must be considered for capital renewal in the near future. This paper and the remainder of the papers in this Asset Management session take an in-depth look, on a discipline by-discipline basis, at how to reach strategic solutions to managing, maintaining and renewing this vital infrastructure. In the associated six papers, the domain experts will concentrate on the overall goals of strategic asset management and its application to water and waste water systems, bridge projects and networks, building maintenance, and roadway infrastructure. This panel of international speakers address the six essential areas of asset management in their domain of interest: 1) asset inventory techniques, 2) asset valuation methods, 3) deferred maintenance classification, 4) condition assessment surveys, 5) service life prediction models, and 6) maintenance planning strategies.The goal of my paper is to introduce the reader to the topic of strategic asset management, to provide a vocabulary of terms used in the domain, to provide a background for the need for asset management, to describe a sequential process for the proper implementation of an asset management system, and to describe an innovative project related to municipal infrastructure investment planning. |
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