6.6.3.4
Trends and Long-Term Change
Maintenance can be deployed to address long-term trends that impact asset conditions. Other trends may impact an agency’s ability to deploy maintenance. Examples of trends that impact maintenance include the following (Allen, et.al. 2023).
- Changes to regulations, requirements or standards may require a rapid response to replace non-conforming assets, or may impact the cost of future maintenance.
- Changing customer expectations may lead to changes in maintenance performance standards and drive future budget changes.
- Funding fluctuations may provide a boost to or decline in maintenance capabilities. In turn this could lead to changes in asset performance, or vulnerabilities.
- Aging infrastructure can lead to network wide changes in maintenance needs. This can occur cyclically, following large building cycles, such as the interstate construction era from 1960 to 1980.
- Staff turnover due to retirements can create a need for better knowledge management.
- Rapid system expansion can lead to an increased need for future maintenance. Since the need is not immediate, there can be a lag between the need arising and an awareness of that need among executives and legislators who establish maintenance budgets.
- Long-term or gradual environmental changes can impact asset performance by exposing infrastructure to conditions it was not designed to withstand. Maintenance may be required to retrofit or replace poorly performing assets.