Boosting the accuracy of VDOT’s Pavement Data compared to Windshield

Challenge

VDOT needs rapid access to accurate and robust road data to be able to respond swiftly to road maintenance issues and make best use of public funds.

The agency had significant legacy data integrated into their pavement models and planning outputs. These legacy issues meant that the team lacked confidence in the reported data and was spending a lot of time verifying it, which in turn was delaying client acceptance.

To monitor pavement condition trends efficiently and effectively, the team also needed to be able to check data consistency between consecutive collection cycles.

Solution

Over the last 15 years we have helped VDOT refine their data collection and analysis. Three examples of this work are described below.

Transition from 2D to 3D

Road dampness can skew the accuracy of data collected using 2D technology, so Fugro helped VDOT switch to 3D technology, which provides greater consistency and reliability in all types of weather. The migration involved transferring and maintaining 25 TB of historical 2D data to understand asset degradation trends during the transition period.

Since switching to 3D, the data is consistent, regardless of weather conditions at the time of the assessment, so the VDOT team no longer has to spend time double-checking the reported data. The new 3D technology is also enabling the team to take a deeper look at the pavement’s performance characteristics for improved maintenance of road assets.

Year-to-year data comparisons

We maintain VDOT’s procedures for monitoring trends in pavement conditions. Fugro adopted VDOT’s year-to-year (Y2Y) comparison process to assist VDOT in identifying and locating anomalies quickly, and to check data consistency between consecutive collection cycles.

We investigate any data item that falls outside the acceptable range due to wear and tear or performed maintenance, adjusting records if necessary and then documenting that change in detail.

We also include comments about the Y2Y data comparisons as part of our VDOT deliverables. This approach is proving highly beneficial to the team because it identifies precisely the factors that are contributing to trend deviations.

Windshield quality-control reports

VDOT provides district-based “windshield tables," which are listings for all of the state’s pavement sections. The sections are based on the extent of maintenance treatments and can often change, making Y2Y comparisons difficult.

Innovative highlight

We collect VDOT’s pavement performance data – almost 30,000 miles a year – using our state-of-the-art pavement ARAN survey vehicles and software. Our iVision-hosted web application offers synchronised viewing of all videos, mapping and pavement management data. As a result, maintenance and other remote staff have full access to current road data, allowing them to assess road conditions from the safety of an office. This innovative approach eliminates the risks associated with working on live roadways, achieves huge staff time-savings and leverages the pavement performance data.

We use these windshield tables to ensure that Y2Y comparisons are performed consistently on the same homogeneous pavement sections; homogeneity is important because a mix of new and old asphalt (or asphalt and concrete) could mean that the resulting values are not representative of the entire section.

Impact

Our long-term partnership with VDOT is based on an open communication style and a deep understanding of the agency’s needs.

This has created a highly efficient workflow that is saving VDOT money, time and effort, year after year. By providing iVision and hosting VDOT’s extensive dataset, we have considerably reduced the agency’s operational costs.

Over the last 15 years, we have developed and implemented a stream of innovative solutions enabling us to deliver reliable, accurate data. Furthermore, our methodologies have reduced the turnaround time from data delivery to VDOT approval by 25 %.