ROAD 2000 A UNIQUE PROJECT

A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realises he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts: “Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?”

The man below says: “Yes, you’re in a hot air balloon, hovering 30 feet above this field.” “You must be an engineer,” says the balloonist. “I am,” replies the man. “How did you know?”

“Well,” says the balloonist, “Everything you have told me is technically correct but, it’s of no use to anyone.” The man below says, “You must be in management.” “I am,” replies the balloonist, but how did you know?”

“Well,” says the man, “you don’t know where you are, or where you’re going, but you expect me to be able to help. You’re in the same position you were in before we met, but now it’s my fault!”

What is ROAD 2000? A Visual Survey of London’s A class roads Measurement of cracks, ruts and potholes Providing condition information Establishing repair priorities A tool for maintenance practitioners A tool for resource allocation

How it all started H & F’s maintenance strategy Member interest in maintenance and streetworks Satisfaction levels in H&F Need for consistent London- wide data Offer to extend ‘lead-borough’ principle to highway maintenance condition assessment

Seminar Objectives to share our experience of ROAD 2000 to present the survey results to give confidence to the lead-borough approach to strengthen the borough partnership to develop a best practice in highway maintenance and to explain some of the difficulties with the project

Government Office for London Brief - May 1999 Establish the PRN maintenance requirement Provide technical information to the Mayor to enable sound decision making Provide the boroughs with BVPI 96 Provide consistent PR condition data Establish common Best Value maintenance practice

Setting Up the Project Team Technical Consultant In-house Project Team Survey Consultants UKPMS Software Suppliers & Mapping Consultants GIS Specialists

Survey Specification Meeting with GoL/DETR/HA/TRL/CBC Visual or Machine based Surveys Coarse or Detailed Visual Inspection Survey? Network referencing/Inventory data Cross-sectional positions Presentation of results Mapping output Footway data

Some BASICS The Structural Condition Index What is a Structural Defect? What is UKPMS? What are the RP2.0? What is the Structural Condition Index? How is it presented and what does it mean?

What a Structural Defect? A structural defect is an anomaly that affects the physical condition, including the foundation, of the road. An example is Wheel Track Rutting or full depth cracking. Fretting is not a structural defect although the repair treatment, resurfacing is a structural treatment.

What is UKPMS? The United Kingdom Pavement Management System Maintenance management tool developed in tranches Tranche 1 - Data Collection Tranche 2 - Data processing. Tranche 3 - Network trends. Only tranches 1 & 2 currently operational.

What are the RP2.0? The Rules and Parameters 2.0 These are the fixed parameters set in the UKPMS software required by the DETR and Audit Commission Parameters pre-set to produce consistent Performance Indicators

What is The Structural Condition Index ? This is a number between 0 and 100 that represents the average structural condition of the highway. It is calculated from the RP2.0 parameters in the UKPMS software. A SCI of 70 & Over shows that structural maintenance should be considered

How is the SCI presented? Four bands 0-30, 30-50, and 70 & Over. The SCI data can give the network % within each band (including the average SCI value within the band) The SCI can also be presented in colour bands on a map. Green 0-30, Yellow 30-50, Orange 50-70, Red 70 & Over

BVPI 96 The Best Value Performance Indicator for Structural Condition calculated from either: 1Deflectograph or 2 UKPMS CVI Survey –Point of zero residual life For visual surveys this is the % of the PRN with a SCI of 70 & Over Red band on the maps.

London-wide and individual borough Output Data Data, in draft, was provided to the boroughs in March HMDIF files UKPMS processed data BVPI 96 using UKPMS SCI data for both the PR and the residual PRN. (note the transfer of some of the PRN to the Greater London Authority Road Network GRN)

Expected Results A 50 year design life gives SCI 2% Reliability of Visual Surveys –e.g. Overlay schemes give SCI 0% Survey only as accurate as the Survey; the Specification; the IT Software and the UKPMS process ‘Rubbish in’ gives ‘rubbish out’ Results need to be validated by machine surveys and ‘more points on the graph’

Preliminary Results 20 boroughs with SCI < 5% 11 boroughs with SCI < 1% The resource requirement based solely on the BVPI trigger did not correlate to the anticipated need for many of the boroughs Some concern over the interpretation of the Structural Condition data and correlation with some borough results

Reliance on the SCI? UKPMS treatment report Structural treatment Outputs [remember fretting is not a structural defect but requires a structural treatment] bids for structural maintenance include planned resurfacing decision to provide structural treatment data & maps

Difficulties with the Survey Time scale - May 99 to July 2000 Agreement of Survey Objectives Determining the Appropriate Specification Survey & IT procurement Scope of Network and DVI Survey Setting up the Project Team (in- house and externally]

Difficulties [continued] Liaison with Steering Group Communications with the boroughs Producing regular news letters Selecting OS Products Establishing the Network Referencing Dividing the network into 33 boroughs Providing London-wide and borough data

Difficulties [continued] Providing BVPI 96 for the PRN and the residual PRN Auditing borough results Validation of results How to deal with low SCI’s SCI and Treatment Correlation Map quality issues GIS output - UKPMS reports

Positive Aspects Production of the largest UKPMS survey First to produce regional & individual PI’s National lead on survey specification DETR Guidance on CVI/DVI surveys Repeatability issues: UKPMS, Software, Specification, Survey and Operative Performance

More Positive Outcomes UKPMS Software Updates –Faster, Improved Mapping Capability Partnerships – , News Letters, H&F & LoTAG Web sites –Steering Group & Project Team Problem Solving –Brain Storming Meetings –Liaison with others in the Industry –Establishing dialogue with the boroughs Areas for Improvement –UKPMS - Software - Survey specification –data collection procedure - Audit & QA –network referencing - repeatability

Still More Positive Outcomes Analysing comparable surveys to identify repeatability issues Establishing the London-wide comparitors Establishing Benchmark targets for boroughs All the UKPMS PI’s for PRN & RPRN –Structural CI, Surface Property CI, Wearing Course & Overall CI Gaining knowledge of OS Products - OSCAR, Landline and Landplan Mapping issues - Quality - UKPMS reports - GIS output

Most Important Technical Outcomes A key player in the future of UKPMS Leading player in developing the best way forward for condition assessment surveys Lead role in the presentation of SCI and treatment data Need to develop R&P for resource allocation

ROAD 2000 Strengths Size and profile has attracted key players into the project e.g. UKPMS Software & Mapping Consultants Technical Experts Survey Consultants London borough expertise GIS Consultants

ROAD 2000 Weaknesses Uncertainty over future funding Confidence over performance and accuracy Ability to deliver the programme Have we got it right? What are the next steps? Project resource allocation

ROAD Opportunities To lead the way in Condition Assessment & Maintenance BV to improve road maintenance with reduced traffic disruption at optimum costs To influence resource allocation To break new ground in partnership working

ROAD 2000 Threats Loss of Funding Loose the lead to Other Key players Failure to deliver the service Absorbed within the GLA

ROAD 2000 A Unique Survey UKPMS BVPI’s Borough Partnership Best Value Development Scale & Geography GIS & Ordnance Survey Products Local & Regional, Bench marking Long term opportunities Building blocks for the future

ROAD 2000 A UNIQUE SURVEY THE END