How AI is Changing Transportation Asset Management

Knowing the condition of its transportation infrastructure is critical for local governments and municipalities. Additionally, having a sensible approach towards the capital investments needed to ensure the roads and their accompanying signage, signaling, sidewalks, stormwater, utility and landscape buffers remain in reasonable condition is critical to the economic health and long-term growth of the community.

Asset Management provides the backbone necessary to inventory, assess conditions, maintain, monitor, and improve the roadways and their associated assets. The process also provides transparency for citizens to see the current investments being done, and what future work needs consideration.

Traditionally, performing the assessment of a municipalities’ transportation system is a time-consuming and laborious process, undertaken by experienced and qualified civil engineers. An engineer would travel throughout the area, making sure to cover all roadways while video recording their journey; then use their experience and judgement to implement a complex grading system to rate damaged and/or problematic features of each roadway. This traditional time-consuming process would take weeks to complete, and would still be based on a singular perspective of the reviewing engineer. The report would then be printed and given to the client, which may sit on a shelf, unreferenced for years.

Keck & Wood has been providing high-level, strategic asset management services for our clients for over 55 years, and we have performed many of these traditional assessments. However, now we have tapped into a better way to provide more accurate information for our clients to take action with; meaning, we can invest more time to collaborate on sustainable solutions and design improvements that can extend the life and performance of this vital infrastructure.

Intelligence Gathering at Our Fingertips:

At Keck & Wood, we perform asset management services for roadways quicker and more efficiently than ever before by using cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. With our state-of-the-art system, we can gather data faster and more accurately than with the traditional approach. This data is then automatically compared to a condition index which takes into account important considerations such as the surface material lifespan, historic weather conditions, traffic conditions, years of service, etc. These comparatives are from a live database which contains the most up to date information available. The detailed reports will capture damage and failing conditions such as:

Block cracking – A pattern of cracking which divides the pavement into approximately rectangular pieces

Rutting – A longitudinal surface depression in the wheel path

Raveling – The wearing away of pavement surface caused by the dislodging of aggregate particles and loss of asphalt binder

Better Capital Investment Planning:  

Utilizing a digital format, detailed asset management reports are generated within hours instead of days. The reports show a fully detailed map of all transportation infrastructure with graded roadways, proposed areas of improvement, suggestions on the treatments required, and a cost analysis of the work. With this level of detail, municipal management can assess where the critical needs are and target capital resource expenditures where they’re needed most.

“By utilizing AI technology, Keck & Wood was able to save the City of Manchester, GA 20% on their asset management reporting budget. They reallocated this savings toward additional asset improvements.” said Adam Shelton – Keck + Wood Asset Management Engineer.

Studying the lifecycle curves of the roadways, pragmatic decisions can made as to how to invest future funds. This information can be shared with the community to justify how and where roadways are being maintained and improved. The reports now become a living document, an important tool for planning current and future investments and corrective action, instead of just a printed book on a shelf.

More Time for Improved Roadway Care:

Deploying our sophisticated AI program backed with active databases is not enough to realize the success of your management plan. As a trusted advisor to clients, Keck + Wood has implemented multi-year maintenance programs for clients. Our approach utilizes specific treatment strategies deployed at the right stage of the pavement’s lifecycle to maximize its’ useful life.

The American roadway system has been the ultimate expression of freedom and a core part of the landscape for generations. Roads and streets that connect and form communities will always play a major part in enhancing our culture and building the economy. As the infrastructure continues to erode with passing time, the need to balance the demand for new construction and the sensibility of maintenance, preservation, and reconstruction of existing infrastructure has become a challenge. With our expertise, experience and innovative tools, the asset management team at Keck & Wood can collaborate with you to make sure you have the best plan at your disposal. Contact us today to start planning for your community’s future.