Context
The asset teams for Roads and Civil Structures planned maintenance five years ahead. Within that window it is difficult to optimise and combine maintenance actions across the municipality, and external developments from utility parties and housing projects cannot be integrated. Amsterdam also carries a maintenance backlog on its bridges — 120 movable and 1,780 fixed, spread across eight city districts — which led the city to found a separate division to accelerate the replacement of bridges and quay walls.
Our solution
- 01 Develop a 25-year budget-constrained long-term asset plan (LTAP) with the asset managers and asset teams for Civil Structures and Roads, using Simeo and Oxand's risk-based methodology.
- 02 Feed the plan with asset quantities, degradation models, safety and availability impact, and standardised cost parameters.
- 03 Run a pilot combining road maintenance with housing development and energy-transition projects, to test whether an integral area approach per neighbourhood or city district is feasible.
What Oxand delivered
Scenario-based prioritisation
Different scenario outcomes gave insight into prioritisation and budget breakdown across the assets in scope: movable bridges, fixed bridges and pavement.
Backlog and long-term action plan
Improved knowledge of the maintenance backlog, and a long-term action plan built on required safety and availability within budget constraints.
City-wide and district-level decisions
Prioritisation for the city as a whole, with the option to consciously favour certain city districts in line with current municipality policy.
Agreed next steps
Embedding the process and the responsibility for updating the LTAP within the Traffic and Public Space department, and formalising collaboration with utility parties and housing developers for cross-sectoral planning integration.
Questions about this reference
Why did Amsterdam need a longer planning horizon?
Its asset teams for roads and civil structures planned five years ahead. Inside that window maintenance actions cannot be optimised and combined across the municipality, and external developments from utility parties and housing projects cannot be integrated at all.
What does the long-term asset plan cover?
Twenty-five years, under budget constraint, across the city's roads and civil structures — including 120 movable and 1,780 fixed bridges spread over eight city districts.
What feeds the plan?
Asset quantities, degradation models, the impact of each asset on safety and availability, and standardised cost parameters, brought together in Simeo on a risk-based method.
What did the pilot on integral area planning test?
Whether road maintenance could be combined with housing development and energy-transition projects, so that a neighbourhood or district is opened once rather than several times. The question was whether an integral area approach is feasible at all.
Can the city favour one district over another?
Yes, deliberately. The plan prioritises for the city as a whole while leaving the option of consciously favouring certain districts in line with current municipal policy — the choice becomes explicit rather than incidental.