Develop Efficiencies and Versatilities for Roadway Drainage Maintenance

2019PDFTech ReportElzarka, HazemChakraborty, DebadityaGurganus, CharlesCorey, JonathanGao, CeUniversity of CincinnatiTexas A&M Transportation InstituteOhio. Dept. of Transportation. Office of Statewide Planning and ResearchUnited States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway AdministrationOhio. Dept. of Transportation. Office of Statewide Planning and ResearchUnited StatesCleaningCleaning equipmentCostsDitchesExcavating equipmentHighway maintenanceLaser radarMappingRoadsidewheeled excavatormobile LiDAR systemsFHWA/OH-2019/12SJN 135775Final ReportODOT maintains approximately 43,000 lane miles of roadside ditches creating significant constraints on budgets and labor. The aim of this research is to develop a more versatile and efficient process of cleaning/maintaining roadside ditches by increasing safety, optimizing labor hours, increasing flexibility of ditching process, and minimizing damage to road surfaces. Based on the research results, the research team is recommending the use of a wheeled excavator. The preliminary cost analysis estimated the average cost/mile of cleaning a ditch with a wheeled excavator to be 25% less than the cost of conventional methods currently used by ODOT for ditch cleaning. The research also evaluated the use of \u201cmobile LiDAR\u201d as a tool to map ditches at both the network and project levels. The research revealed that although owning and operating a survey grade mobile LiDAR system (MLS) is a big investment and that the workflows currently used for processing MLS data are still being improved, the benefits of using a mobile LiDAR far outweigh the initial ownership and recurring operational costs.104