Monitoring highway assets with remote technology.

PDFTech ReportRC-16072012-0636Asset managementRemote sensingBenefit cost analysisData collectionLaser radarAerial photographyInventoryHighway facilitiesMonitoringData qualityMichiganDye Management Group, Inc.Dye Management Group, Inc.Michigan. Dept. of TransportationUS Transportation CollectionThe purpose of this research was to evaluate the benefits and costs of various remote sensingtechnology options and compare them to the currently used manual data collection alternative.The DMG\ue2\u20ac\u2122s evaluation was used to determine how useful and feasible it would be to performinventory collection of the Michigan Department of Transportation\ue2\u20ac\u2122s (MDOT\ue2\u20ac\u2122s) twenty-sevenhigh/medium priority assets. DMG performed a pilot project; using several selected routes inMDOT\ue2\u20ac\u2122s Southwest Region, to evaluate different remote technologies and to providerecommendations for how best to implement the most viable of these technologies as datacollection tools and data centralization methods.Results and recommendations include:\uef\u201a\ub7 Remote technologies are capable of gathering highway asset data on most MDOT assets.Notable exceptions include assets not readily visible from the roadway (e.g. culverts).\uef\u201a\ub7 LiDAR technology, while useful in the appropriate application, produces a level of detailbeyond that necessary for the assets identified under this study and was not considered acost-effective alternative.\uef\u201a\ub7 Mobile imaging technology offers an opportunity to effectively gather highway asset datawhile decreasing worker exposure to traffic, increasing data accuracy and quality, speeding data collection, and reducing overall costs relative to manual data collection methods.\uef\u201a\ub7 DMG recommends that MDOT outsource data collection using mobile imaging technologyto a vendor that can handle a project of this magnitude