WHEN IT COMES TO ROADS ARE WE BEING SMART ENOUGH?

The UK is investing in smart motorways which are a cost-effective way of increasing capacity, reducing congestion, providing helpful real-time information, making journeys safer and more predictable. I use those sections of the network regularly and they are a great step forward for road users and a boon to the country’s economy.

Yet I think we can get a lot smarter about our roads in general and not just on key sections and strategic routes such as motorways.

What would you say if I told you that:

• I can tell you the state of a road network prior to a major development and after it has been constructed to see if it has suffered due to that process?
• I can provide you with statistics that allow you to measure the effectiveness of any road re-instatement after maintenance?
• I can help you to measure the ongoing maintenance and repairs within your area?
• I can look at the wear and tear on your roads and give you the information which will let you plan your investment – whether that’s for patching or more substantial works?
• I can tell you all the above about any road across the length and breadth of the UK to a location accuracy within the stride of an average adult?

It’s the kind of information that will help get the most value out of any budget – be it for new build, upgrades or maintenance for the most humble of unclassified roads to the most up-to-date motorway.

It’s the kind of information that will minimise disruption for drivers, prolong the life of roads, improve journey quality, cut pollution and improve safety.

The truth is it’s not all about me. It’s about what a team of specialists and some sophisticated equipment can deliver through our Rapid Visual Assessment approach.

Simply, we’ve now got technologies, and the ability to combine them, to give us fantastic information about the state of our roads and what’s happening to them. Much of this information can be gathered without any inconvenience whatsoever to road users. And where we actually need to do something physical on a road – such as taking core samples or deflection tests (where – in non-technical terms – you essentially hit the road surface to test its stiffness) it can almost certainly be scheduled so disruption is absolutely minimised.

The technology is ferried in an ordinary van and driven around the roads on which you want to gather data. The van travels at normal speeds while filming, plus other sensors if required, and checking its exact GPS location every second of the way. It can combine information with, for example, detailed drawings made by the road designer or an Ordnance Survey map.

The really clever stuff happens in the processing and combining of the data and, of course, in the ability to interpret it. Our team’s experience has been gained in assessing many hundreds of kilometres of roads including on the M1, M60, M62, M8, A74(M), A9 and A419/A417.

There really isn’t a catch but of course the complexity of a particular section of the network will influence costs but typically we can cover a few hundred miles for only a few thousands of pounds – a sum repaid many times over given efficiencies that can be achieved with the implementation of this information.

So, given that Rapid Visual Assessment can be deployed throughout the infrastructure lifecycle if asset managers and contract managers are keen to employ smarter working method then we would like them to get in touch.