Exploring Metrics to Evaluate Integrated Infrastructure Management of Water, Wastewater, and Transportation Infrastructure Using Agent-Based Modeling

Infrastructure systems are tightly coupled with each other; however, infrastructure agencies typically manage infrastructure projects in isolation from other systems. Such a siloed management approach can lead to overlapping projects, inefficient spending, increased end-user disruptions, and limited (if any) interaction among agencies. Therefore, there is a need to better manage multiple systems through integrated infrastructure management—an approach that accounts for infrastructure systems jointly. Such a coordinated approach can streamline capital projects and rehabilitation activities, leading to more-effective use of fiscal and human resources. To address these challenges, researchers and practitioners have developed ways to integrate management across systems, such as increased coordination and project scheduling adjustments. The literature has explored the best practices for such project integration, typically relying on cost and time savings as decision factors, failing to capture managerial and contextual factors that practically influence integration. To fill this gap, we propose an agent-based modeling framework to evaluate the integration of urban water, wastewater, and transportation infrastructure projects using a variety of metrics (e.g., time available to coordinate integration). We ran short- and long-term scenarios to illustrate the influence of different metrics used to determine if projects should be integrated, considering the situational context. The results show the importance of long-term planning to spur integrated infrastructure management, providing additional flexibility for agencies as they coordinate projects. This study contributes to the literature by expanding the limited metrics typically used to evaluate integrated infrastructure management by providing additional metrics to do so. In practical application, such a coordinated approach can streamline capital projects and rehabilitation activities, leading to more-effective use of fiscal and human resources. For example, agencies might analyze whether the level of effort spent in coordinating the integration of projects is worth the expected benefits.