Road Maintenance Activities Research Articles

Determining the required number of base stations for winter road maintenance and their locations by integer linear programming

Cold weather and precipitation that occur even in the winter can significantly threaten the normal functioning of road traffic. Therefore, winter road maintenance activities are significant and need to be planned. Some of the decisions related to winter road maintenance can include determining the number and location of base stations, determining the structure of the vehicle fleet, defining the amount of road-spreading material that needs to be procured, etc. This paper focused on determining the number and locations of base stations for winter road maintenance. This is an important problem of a strategic nature, which was solved in two steps in the paper. In the first step, the minimum required number of base stations is determined to cover the entire observed region. In the second step, specific locations of facilities are determined, to minimize the total distance that vehicles need to travel during road maintenance. In both steps, the solution is performed using integer linear programming. In the paper, the model was tested using the example of road maintenance in the Banat district. Excel Solver was used to solve integer linear programs.

Implementation of a low-cost comprehensive pavement inspection system

Assessing the condition of roads is crucial to the maintenance and rehabilitation process as a country's progress is closely linked to its transport infrastructure. Therefore, it is essential to have well-maintained roads and to be able to control and monitor them properly. Technological advancements have transformed the way pavement inspections are carried out. This study presents an innovative approach that combines stereo cameras and a GPS module for efficient and accurate data collection. This integration of low-cost technologies provides a detailed three-dimensional view of pavements, complemented by accurate geospatial information. The experimental results showed that the 3D images of pavement damage had a relative volume measurement error of 0.80 %. Unlike traditional systems such as LIDAR and ground-penetrating radar, which involve more expensive technologies, the proposed method offers a cost-effective solution. This methodology not only simplifies the inspection process but also improves the planning and execution of road maintenance and repair activities. Its low cost makes it a viable option for various projects and applications in road infrastructure.

Socialization of Environmental Road Maintenance in Settlements with the Application of Biopores to Reduce Water Runoff to the Road Surface

As a result of rapid population growth, the Montong Are area in Mandalika Village, Mataram City experienced a change in land use from rice fields to residential land. The main obstacle faced is inadequate drainage due to the low position of the location and the height of the ground water level. Therefore, water often overflows onto the road surface during the rainy season, hampering traffic and causing damage to infrastructure. Water runoff can be reduced and drainage can be improved with the use of low-tech solutions such as biopores. Biopores outreach and training is needed to build a sustainable housing environment and reduce the negative impact of water runoff on road infrastructure. The stages of socialization activities include: Preliminary Survey; Preparation for implementation; Implementation of Socialization; evaluation stage; and Preparation of Reports and Outputs. The socialization activity began with the delivery of material about biopores and discussion, followed by a demonstration on how to make biopores. The community has been successfully educated about biopores and their function in absorbing rainwater into the soil and reducing the possibility of erosion and flooding. The community was very enthusiastic about taking part in the socialization of biopores making activities considering its benefits for use in road maintenance activities. The knowledge gained can increase public awareness of utilizing this concept as a solution that can be applied to overcome the problem of runoff and flooding on the road surface. So that people can actively participate in the construction and maintenance of biopores around where they live because of the benefits they experience

Detecting Wear and Tear in Pedestrian Crossings Using Computer Vision Techniques: Approaches, Challenges, and Opportunities

Pedestrian crossings are an essential part of the urban landscape, providing safe passage for pedestrians to cross busy streets. While some are regulated by timed signals and are marked with signs and lights, others are simply marked on the road and do not have additional infrastructure. Nevertheless, the markings undergo wear and tear due to traffic, weather, and road maintenance activities. If pedestrian crossing markings are excessively worn, drivers may not be able to see them, which creates road safety issues. This paper presents a study of computer vision techniques that can be used to identify and classify pedestrian crossings. It first introduces the related concepts. Then, it surveys related work and categorizes existing solutions, highlighting their key features, strengths, and limitations. The most promising techniques are identified and described: Convolutional Neural Networks, Histogram of Oriented Gradients, Maximally Stable Extremal Regions, Canny Edge, and thresholding methods. Their performance is evaluated and compared on a custom dataset developed for this work. Insights on open issues and research opportunities in the field are also provided. It is shown that managers responsible for road safety, in the context of a smart city, can benefit from computer vision approaches to automate the process of determining the wear and tear of pedestrian crossings.

A Study on Relations among Residents-Participatory Road Maintenance Activities and Other Community Activities

A Study on Relations among Residents-Participatory Road Maintenance Activities and Other Community Activities

Managing Work Zone Safety during Road Maintenance and Construction Activities: Challenges and Opportunities

In the US, hundreds of people lose their lives each year, and many more are injured, in street and highway maintenance and construction work zones. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) mandates the use of temporary traffic control to address overall safety performance in roadway construction and maintenance projects. However, statistics reveal the need to further identify and investigate the main contributing factors to occupational incidents within work zones. This study reviewed work zone fatal incident investigation reports carried out by the Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program. The review categorized the reports based on incident nature into internal-source incidents and vehicle intrusion incidents. Accordingly, this study sheds light on the safety of construction workers within road work zones. Specifically, the study focused on temporary traffic control plans and internal traffic control plans (ITCPs). This study highlights the critical contribution of ITCPs to internal-source incidents. Currently, there is no requirement to create and implement an ITCP. As a result, a justification for OSHA’s use of the general-duty clause is suggested to enforce the utilization of ITCPs in roadway work zones. In addition, recommendations to improve overall FACE investigation efficiency and temporary traffic control layout are suggested. This study will aid construction firms and public agencies in improving the overall safety of roadway work zones to reduce occupational fatal and nonfatal injuries.

Performance of rubber asphalt in split mastic asphalt mixture

Latex is obtained by cutting the stems of sap-producing plants. Latex can stabilise asphalt mixtures [1]. Rubber asphalt is polymer-modified asphalt to which additives are added as natural rubber in the form of a liquid, namely latex. The type of pavement used in this research is Split Mastic Asphalt (SMA). SMA is a surface layer with a high percentage of fine aggregate than Asphalt-Concrete and Hot-Rolled- Sheets pavement [2]. Tests were carried out using 7% latex of the total asphalt weight. The research was conducted to determine the value of the Marshall characteristics and compare between 7% Rubberized (Rb) Asphalt and Non-Rubberized (NRb) Asphalt. The stability value increased by 43.7% for Rb asphalt in the SMA pavement mixture compared to the NRb Asphalt. The stability increases from 1943.23 kg for NRb asphalt to 2791.712 kg for SMA with 7% rubber (Rb Asphalt). The flow value for Rb Asphalt SMA follows the standard, namely 3.77 mm, with an MQ value of 760.24 kg/mm. With an increase in Marshall parameter values, the rubber Asphalt was appropriate to be added to the SMA pavement. Road surfaces made with rubber SMA may require less frequent maintenance and resurfacing, which can reduce the environmental impact associated with road construction and maintenance activities.

Durability and mechanical long-term performance of reclaimed asphalt pavement stabilized by alkali-activation

The application of alkali-activated industrial by-products for the stabilization of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP), can become a sustainable solution to reduce the carbon footprint of road construction and maintenance activities. Furthermore, this approach can also reduce the increasing depletion of natural resources. Thus, the durability and long-term mechanical performance of RAP stabilized with alkali-activated fly ash were assessed in this study. The alkaline activator was a solution composed of sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate. To this extent, unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and durability tests were conducted in this research. The proposed alkali-activated binder significantly increased the UCS of RAP mixtures, with long-term (365 days) results reaching values up to 32 MPa; fulfilling the strength requirements for cement-stabilized soil mixtures and even stable inorganic binder materials for road base and sub-base layers of pavements. These results indicate that when stabilized with an alkali-activated fly ash binder, RAP presents several applications for road engineering; even when subjected to seasonal variations in humidity and temperature, as shown by the durability tests.

EFESIENSI DAN EFEKTIVITAS PENGGUNAAN ALAT BERAT BALAI PELAKSANA JALAN NASIONAL XXI KENDARI PADA PEKERJAAN JALAN NASIONAL DI KONAWE UTARA

Road network handling activities aim to improve and maintain road conditions so that accessibility and mobility are maintained to meet the needs of the community for movement At the XXI National Road Executing Center in Kendari, the use of heavy equipment is for routine road maintenance activities. So far, the activity of maintaining and building roads in the province of Southeast Sulawesi. XXI Kendari National Road Executing Agency's heavy equipment consists of several types, including: Motor Graders, Wheel Loaders, Three Wheel Rollers, Dump Trucks, Excavators, Boldoser, and Tandem Rollers. Based on the heavy equipment characteristics of the Excavator National Road Executing Agency, the Bulldozer is badly damaged, the Road Roller (3 Damaged and 4 is good), the Motor Greder is good and the Whell Loader (1 Damaged and 1 Good)The level of effectiveness of heavy equipment managed by the XXI Kendari National Road Executing Agency is still low, this is indicated by the average level of tool utility valued at 22.75%, as well as the average efficiency level of only 23.93%, this is caused by, Some tools are old and have passed the economic age so that they have an impact on the high operational costs of the equipment, the level of utility of the tool is low, because the use of equipment is still limited in North Konawe district, Supervision of operating hours and the imposition of late payment penalties accordingkeywords: Heavy equipment, Efficiency, Effectiveness

Evaluation of a Mobile Highway Management System at Roadwork Zones

Road construction and maintenance activities cause traffic congestions and delays and present challenges for ensuring the safety of both motorists and road workers. While urban areas are well-equipped with traffic devices, in the case of highways our chances to collect traffic data and control traffic flows may be limited. Then the use of a temporary Highway Traffic Management System seems to be a suitable solution. Although the impacts of its deployment are addressed by many theoretical studies and demonstrated on traffic simulation models, there are not many references dealing with field tests. We provide results of the practical evaluation of the temporary Highway Management System installed and tested on the main highway in the Czech Republic during the road works period. Before-after analysis of collected traffic data was performed to prove the importance and positive impact of the proposed solution. We demonstrate an over 20% increase in the capacity of the roadwork zone and an almost 30 seconds decrease in average delay for one vehicle Highway administrators can use the results to justify investments into the temporary deployment of mobile traffic management systems.

Building Sustainable Pavements: Investigating the Effectiveness of Recycled Tire Rubber as a Modifier in Asphalt Mixtures

Building more sustainable pavements for the future requires knowledge of alternative and innovative materials for utilization in future road construction and maintenance activities. Being mindful of this need, the present study investigates a Reacted and Activated Rubber (RAR) compound modifier with the aim of defining an optimal RAR percentage in Asphalt Concrete (AC) mixes. It is acknowledged that when this type of modifier is incorporated within an AC mix as an alternative for the bituminous binder material, the associated economic, environmental and social benefits are significant. Simply put, the use of RAR modifiers provides the potential to utilize a waste product (rubber tires) as a more sustainable alternative to bitumen within AC mixtures. However, it seems that the information about the overall performance of AC mixes modified with RAR is currently limited. On these grounds, the present study focuses on the surface course layer and evaluates (a) achieved physical characteristics (compaction degree/voids), (b) mechanical characterization results (stiffness moduli) and (c) friction-based properties of tested mixtures incorporating varying RAR levels and different test temperatures. From the evaluation, it is concluded that for the case of the surface course mixture under investigation, the optimal percentage by weight of bitumen for inclusion of the RAR modifier is 10%.

Predicting Pavement Roughness Using Deep Learning Algorithms

Transportation agencies should measure pavement performance to appropriately strategize road preservation, maintenance, and rehabilitation activities. The international roughness index (IRI), which is a means to quantify pavement roughness, is a primary performance indicator. Many attempts have been made to correlate pavement roughness to other pavement performance parameters. Most existing correlations, however, are based on traditional statistical regression, which requires a hypothesis for the data. In this study, a novel approach was developed to predict asphalt concrete (AC) pavement IRI, utilizing datasets extracted from the Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) database. IRI prediction is categorized by two models: (i) IRI progression over the pavement’s service life without maintenance/rehabilitation and (ii) the drop in IRI after maintenance. The first model utilizes the recurrent neural network algorithm, which deals with time-series data. Therefore, historical traffic data, environmental information, and distress (rutting, fatigue cracking, and transverse cracking) measurements were extracted from the LTPP database. A long short-term memory network was used to solve the vanishing gradient problem. Finally, an optimal model was achieved by setting the sequence length to 2 years. The second model utilizes an artificial neural network algorithm to correlate the impacting factors to the IRI value after maintenance. The impacting factors include maintenance activities; initial (new construction), milled, and overlaid AC thicknesses; as well as IRI value before maintenance activities. Combining the two models allows for the prediction of IRI values over AC pavement’s service life.

PotSpot: Participatory sensing based monitoring system for pothole detection using deep learning

Proper maintenance of roads is an extremely complex task and also an important issue all over the world. One of the most critical road monitoring and maintenance activities is the detection of road anomalies such as potholes. Identification of potholes is necessary to avoid road accidents, prevent damage of vehicles, enhance travelling comforts, etc. Although maintenance of roads is considered to be a serious issue by the authorities over the years, lack of proper detection and mapping of road potholes makes the issue more severe. To overcome this problem, an end-to-end system called PotSpot is built for real-time detection, monitoring, and spatial mapping of potholes across the city A Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model is proposed and evaluated on real-world dataset for pothole detection. Additionally, real-time pothole-marked maps are generated with the help of Google Maps API (Application Programming Interface). To provide an end-to-end service through this system, both the pothole detection and pothole mapping are integrated through an android application. The proposed model is also compared with six baselines namely Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Support Vector Machine (SVM), K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), and three pre-trained CNN models InceptionV3, VGG19 and VGG16 in terms of performance metrics to verify its effectiveness. The proposed model achieves better accuracy (≈ 97.6 %) as compared to the above-mentioned baseline methods. It is also observed that the Area Under the Curve (AUC) value for the proposed pothole detection model (AUC= 0.97) is higher than the baseline methods.

Innovative bitumen technology to reduce impact on air quality

With increasing environmental awareness, air quality is a topic of intense discussion and focus with many environment authorities/agencies setting targets aiming to improve air quality. Reducing the impact on air quality from road construction and maintenance activities plays a part in a holistic approach to improving air quality, particularly in the urban environment. This paper describes an innovative bitumen technology which can help reduce the impact on local air quality from bitumen and asphalt mixtures during asphalt manufacture and pavement installation. It presents laboratory experiments designed to replicate the end-to-end aspects of the bitumen supply chain; starting from refineries and storage depots to paving at road construction sites. The laboratory results have shown substantial reductions in a range of air quality indicators, such as SOx, NOx, particulate emissions, volatile organic content emission as well as in other potential nuisances such as H2S and odour. Full scale field evaluations carried out in major cities have reflected the results obtained in the laboratory and show a reduction in the emission of specific gases and particulates at various points of the asphalt preparation and pavement laying process. This bitumen technology plays a role as part of the holistic solution in improving air quality in the urban environment.

Towards a holistic approach to the geochemistry of solid inorganic particles in the urban environment

Airborne particulate matter (PM) has a major impact on the biogeochemical cycles of chemical elements in the urban environment. Anthropogenic-derived PM emissions are the cause of some of the most severe environmental and health problems. The presented study aims to improve our knowledge of PM dynamics by introducing a multi-media, multi-analytical and multi-elemental holistic approach to geochemical studies of inorganic PM in the urban environment. The importance of the holistic approach is highlighted and its application in a case study of Maribor (Slovenia) is presented. The chemical composition and individual particulate characteristics of street, attic and household dust were determined and compared with the characteristics of airborne PM, and PM deposited in snow, together with the chemical composition of the soil. We found that the mineralogical and chemical composition and the individual solid particle characteristics of the studied media differ considerably. Nevertheless, minerals of geogenic origin are present in all media. The highest levels of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in all media, except household dust, are typical for industrial areas. Street dust primarily reflects the influence of winter road maintenance and industrial activities, while characteristics of household dust are predominantly influenced by indoor activities and properties of dwellings. The comparison of the chemical composition of attic and street dust indicates that emissions of As, Cd, Pb, S and Zn were higher in the past. The characterisation of airborne PM and PM deposited in snow is essential for the identification of the most recent sources of PTE-bearing particles. Several industrial sources and the fate of some particle types in the environment have been determined based on the findings of the SEM/EDS analyses. This study confirms that various environmental media are carriers of diverse geochemical information and highlights the importance of a holistic approach in geochemistry of PM in urban areas.

A strategy of quick hierarchization of road bridge maintenance activities

The control and maintenance of infrastructures is a crucial aspect for the sustainability and development of the economic and social activities of a country. The managing authorities, in order to preserve the efficiency and safety of the traffic flows, have to deal with a rather old infrastructure asset that is often in a non-optimal conservation state with an increasing degradation process induced by the increment of the traffic loads and by the environmental actions. The situation is exacerbated by the limited economic resources and reduced workforces at disposal with the consequence that an order of priority in the maintenance plain is anavoidable. This work provides a logical tool to define the hierarchy of the maintenance plain of the infrastructural heritage based on one hand on the structure state of conservation and on the other hand on the context in which the construction is integrated

Prospects of alternative funding sourcing for maintenance of road networks in developing countries

Traditional sources to finance transport infrastructure is becoming an investment challenge; thus the need for alternative funding arrangements. From 2014 to 2017, of the planned expenditure of US$1.76 billion, an amount of US$876 million was secured representing 49.8% of the required funding for investment in Ghana's road sector. Of the secured funds, US$ 418.6 million (47.7%) came from donor funding as the government could not provide its share of commitment to the planned expenditure. The Sunyani Municipality in Ghana with a condition mix of 41% good, 36% fair and 23% poor, was employed as the case for assessing the possibility of using revenue accruals from on-street parking and related-charges to attract private partnership arrangements to fund road maintenance activities. Potential annual revenue accruals (US$500,634.82) from on-street parking were assessed alongside costs (US$405, 244.44) associated with the scheduled maintenance options. The project was revealed to be beneficial by the results of the first year analysis as prospects of seeking private investment to fund road maintenance activities appear good. However, further studies would be required to determine the viability of this funding option given the different road condition mix dynamics and road user charge regimes that may exist in the various municipalities in Ghana.

Upcycling Potential of Industrial Waste in Soil Stabilization: Use of Kiln Dust and Fly Ash to Improve Weak Pavement Subgrades Encountered in Michigan, USA

The State of Michigan in the United States often encounters weak soil subgrades during its road construction and maintenance activities. Undercutting has been the usual solution, while a very few attempts of in-situ soil stabilization with cement or lime have been made. Compared to the large volume of weak soils that require improvement and the cost incurred on an annual basis, some locally available industrial byproducts present the potential to become effective soil subgrade stabilizers and a better solution from the sustainability perspective as well. The candidate industrial byproducts are Cement Kiln Dust (CKD), Lime Kiln Dust (LKD), and Fly Ash (FA), out of which only a fraction is currently used for any other secondary purposes while the rest is disposed of in Michigan landfills. This manuscript describes a laboratory investigation conducted on above industrial byproducts and/or their combinations to assess their suitability to be used as soil subgrade stabilizers in three selected weak soil types often found in Michigan. Results reveal that CKD or a combination of FA/LKD can be recommended for the long-term soil subgrade stabilization of all three soil types tested, while FA and LKD can be used in some soil types as a short-term soil stabilizer (for construction facilitation). A brief discussion is also presented at the end on the potential positive impact that can be made by the upcycling of CKD/LKD/FA on sustainability.

APPLICATION OF VALUE ENGINEERING IN PROJECT ROAD MAINTENANCE ACTIVITY AT THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT OF SPATIAL PLANNING IN GROBOGAN

One of the most frequent tasks of Public Works and Spatial Planning (PUPR) of Grobogan Regency is the handling of road damage with routine road maintenance. Implementation of material procurement is done contractually with provider of goods / services while for the implementation of activities in the field implemented by UPTD area according to location of activity. So in the implementation of road maintenance activities PUPR Service Grobogan District requires a method of engineering value or commonly called Value Engineering in order to be implemented efficiently and optimally. The purpose of this study is to determine the cost efficiency in the implementation of road maintenance; know the cost components that have the potential to be saved / streamlined in the implementation of road maintenance and also to know the extent to which this value engineering can be applied to the implementation of road maintenance on a self-managed basis. The method used is descriptive qualitative with analytical technique using value engineering to answer the background of problem and purpose. The results of this study indicate that contractual road maintenance is cheaper because it does not rent equipment but has a short plan life of maximum 3 years. While road maintenance is done by self-managed has a plan life of up to 5 years. The cost of renting equipment is a very possible component to save. Value engineering also yields a final conclusion that road maintenance work carried out with self-managed systems has a short and efficient procedure; better road quality and faster processing times compared to conventional systems. Keywords: Grobogan District; Road Maintenance; Value Engineering.

Partitioning and solving large-scale tactical harvest scheduling problems for industrial plantation forests

Spatially explicit, tactical forest planning is a necessary but challenging task in the management of plantation forests. It involves harvest scheduling and planning for road access and log transportation over time and space. This combinatorial problem can be formulated into the fixed-charge transportation problem (FCTP), in which the sum of fixed and variable costs is minimized while meeting harvest volume requirements and allowing necessary road maintenance and log hauling activities. The problem can be solved using general optimization methods such as mixed-integer linear programming (MILP), but the computational efficiency of the MILP-based approach quickly drops as the size and complexity of the problem increases. We developed a new optimization procedure that partitions the large planning problem into smaller subproblems. We applied a hybrid optimization approach using both MILP and heuristic rules to efficiently solve the large FCTP that otherwise may not be solvable using traditional methods. We applied our approach to an industrial plantation forest in Brazil. Our applications demonstrate the performance of the new optimization procedure and the benefit of solving large forest planning problems that integrate harvest scheduling with road access and transportation.