There have been numerous examples of poor in-service performance of welded, tube-to-transverse plate connections within mast-arm sign support structures in the past several decades. A considerable amount of research has been devoted to identifying the structural response characteristics of these sign support systems and identifying how the connections within these systems can be repaired or designed to facilitate infinite service lives. Little attention has been given to using reliability-based approaches to assess the risk of fatigue-induced crack initiation in these structures. The present research effort focuses on systematically quantifying all sources of uncertainty found in these systems and formulating a reliability-based approach for prescribing inspection intervals corresponding to user-specified levels of risk of fatigue-induced crack initiation. The results indicate that implementation of state-of-the-art reliability-based assessment procedures can contribute toward formulating inspection protocols that are based upon owner-defined risk thresholds. The structural engineering community can use the results of this research effort to align inspection needs with limited fiscal and human resources. The procedures developed can also be readily extended to other infrastructure systems including bridges.
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