Innovative condition survey and assessment for roads, pavements and cycle paths in Groß-Gerau

Keeping roads, pavements and cycle paths in the best possible condition is crucial for the development of sustainable mobility. It is also the responsibility of every professional road operator. The German town of Groß-Gerau has decided to rely on new technologies to manage its network of roads, pavements and cycle paths even more efficiently

CLIENT

Groß-Gerau is a district town in Germany with an area of 55km2, in the state of Hesse, in the Darmstadt region. In addition to a routine condition assessment of the road surface, the town council also wanted to check the condition of the pavements and cycle paths. An up-to-date evaluation of the condition of all roads (pedestrian, vehicular and cycle paths) makes it possible to plan repair work, identify road sections in need of immediate repair and prepare expenditure forecasts for the following years. Groß-Gerau decided to rely on an innovative solution and use the services of the Heller Group to carry out diagnostic surveys and assess the condition of road surfaces, pavements and cycle paths in the city in 2021.

Widok aplikacji mobilnej ASPEN
ASPEN pavement survey

TASK

Efficient and accurate decision-making regarding maintenance, planning of renovations, spending of public funds on new facilities, in turn, requires up-to-date and accurate data on the infrastructure condition.

The scope of the survey included:

  • 124 km of roads
  • 200 km of pavements and cycle paths

As an integral part of the project, Heller Consult was also to provide:

  • full photo-registration of the infrastructure,
  • pavement evenness measurements,
  • data visualisation,
  • visual assessment of the network in terms of 4 parameters: comfort (rating on a scale of 1-5, where 1 means good condition and 5 means bad condition), maintenance needs (rating on a scale of 1-5), surface type, lane width,
  • analysis of the measurement results and preparation of an expert report for the manager.

SOLUTION

We used electric scooters equipped with an ASPEN system installed on a smartphone and a high-resolution GoPro camera to carry out measurements on pavements and cycle paths. The entire project was divided into eight stages:

  1. Signing of the contract where the scope, direction and parameters to be measured were defined.
  2. Preparation for the measurements, which included updating the network model and calibrating the measuring equipment.
  3. Data collection, i.e. measurements on roads, pavements and cycle paths with monitoring and data verification.
  4. Data processing (analysis of images and their anonymisation using the Anonymazing tool, thus complying with current GDPR regulations, projection and preparation of elementary data).
  5. Data aggregation, synchronisation and selection of condition assessment parameters.
  6. Data visualisation in the OnKo3 traffic information sharing system (configuration and verification).
  7. Data analysis (calculation of indicators, statistical analysis, summary report).
  8. Engineering expertise (status report, cost estimation, maintenance strategy),
Identyfikacja stanu nawierzchni dróg, chodników i ścieżek rowerowych w Groß-Gerau
Survey Team

RESULTS

The main advantage of performing the diagnostics using an electric scooter and the ASPEN system is speed, simplicity and reliability. We carried out the measurements on the road network in Groß-Gerau in less than a week!

With ASPEN, we not only depicted the current state of the pavement, but also identified the sections in need of maintenance and their urgency. Thanks to the use of the OnKo3 system, the municipal management gained a quick and easy overview of the collected data.

The results of the measurements taken and the evaluation in the form of a structured expert opinion will be able to be used by the municipality of Groß-Gerau for planning and forecasting maintenance budgets and for drawing up a list of priorities for the construction of roads, pavements and cycle paths, enabling it to make targeted renovation decisions.

Hard arguments in the form of numbers and statistical analysis will be helpful in budget negotiations and for investment decisions. An objective assessment of the condition and maintenance strategy has a positive impact on the image of the town and public opinion.

The measurements in Groß-Gerau were covered in the German press.

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