Why Road Imaging Could Transform Highway Maintenance – If Authorities and Utilities Work Together

The increasing availability of road imaging information is providing a foundation for a new era of intelligence driven road maintenance.

With the ability to assess the quality of carriageways, footways and roadside assets in a single drive through, local authorities can transform their understanding of road assets.

This insight also provides unprecedented visibility into the quality of reinstatement work, supporting new understanding of the impact of reinstatement on road performance.  

Used effectively, this knowledge can underpin effective collaboration between local authorities, utilities and their contractors. It can improve performance management, support a more effective inspection and remediation programme and, through detailed understanding of both defects and modes of failures, support further improvements to the network.

As growing numbers of local authorities begin to trial the use of road imaging surveys, embracing a collaborative approach to improving the quality of road reinstatement will improve the experience for road users, save money and deliver continual improvements throughout the road network, explains Steve Birdsall, CEO, Gaist.

Street Work Inspections

The scale of street and road work activity required to improve and maintain utility networks continues to increase. From the expansion of fibre networks to the repair of water leaks and routine work on gas and electricity networks, street works are an essential aspect of utility companies’ service delivery. According to the Transport Committee, 2.2 million street and road works were carried out in England between April 2023 and March 2024, with over 200 organisations having the right to dig up roads.  

For utility companies relying heavily on contractors to carry out reinstatement work, a lack of skilled operatives is a challenge given the ever-increasing demand. There is widespread acknowledgement that the inconsistent quality of road reinstatement works has an adverse effect on the overall performance of the road network.

The onus for inspection and enforcement falls on extremely stretched local authorities, which experience an endemic lack of visibility over the quality of reinstatement work at every stage of the process. In theory, council inspectors can carry out Class A inspections when the work is undertaken, Class B once it has been finished and Class C up to two years (in England) after the work has been completed. Yet limited council resources, combined with the rapid escalation in work, mean just a fraction of these inspections can be completed. 

Next Generation Visibility

The result is not only a deteriorating network but also escalating risk to both pedestrians and vehicles and, inevitably, expensive claims for compensation. Without this insight, both councils and utility companies have minimal visibility of the quality of work completed and, as such, limited opportunities to enforce rapid and effective repair if required.

There is, however, no longer any need to rely on inefficient physical inspections.  Detailed road imaging surveys have been undertaken for several years, with both Northern Ireland and Scotland already committed to a single national survey. Indeed, in Northern Ireland, the use of road imaging survey data is underpinning the Department for Infrastructure’s (DfI) proposed road maintenance strategy, with the goal of leveraging intelligence to make more targeted decisions in terms of improving the road network.

The technology provides next generation insight into not only any defects in the road surface but, more importantly, also the mode of failure. Combining information about the mode of failure with the reinstatement work undertaken in that location provides local authorities with vital insight into why a surface might be cracking or what has caused the pothole.

Collaborative Reinstatement Approach

The value of road imaging surveys is becoming clear, with local authorities across the UK, including Blackpool, Bristol, Glasgow and Edinburgh, signing up for trials. The next steps are, however, critical: the way local authorities choose to use this insight will have long term repercussions. While the scale of the reinstatement problem is significant and growing, using this information to allocate blame or impose fines on utility companies and contractors will not maximise the potential benefits.

What is required is a collaborative approach based upon a shared foundation of accurate road imaging survey information. Working together, utility companies and local authorities can quickly transform the quality of reinstatements. With fast access to granular, high-definition data, reinstatement monitoring can become routine.  Insight can allow authorities to rapidly identify any problems created and enable collaboration with utilities to quickly resolve issues.

Indeed, this insight will allow utility companies to track the quality of reinstatement work undertaken by different contractors to ensure they are meeting contractual and statutory obligations. It will support proactive performance management to drive up standards of reinstatement work and, rather than a punitive approach, encourage local authorities and utilities to work together on wider improvements, such as resurfacing programmes.

Conclusion

With the widespread adoption of road imaging technology, a change in approach to road reinstatement is now inevitable. This new level of transparency enables local authorities, for the first time, to review every single reinstatement, gaining new understanding not only of the quality of work undertaken but also the implications for road quality. 

It is important, however, that this insight should not be used as a stick to beat utility companies or, even worse, a funding stream through imposing fines. The reality is that every party has obligations to meet. Local authorities have a statutory obligation to keep the roads safe. Utility companies have obligations to improve performance and fix faults across complex networks. It is by working together that widespread improvements can be achieved. 

A full visual digital environment providing detailed, accurate and reliable condition and asset base data can provide the foundation for effective reinstatement monitoring, remediation improvements and, critically, the collaboration between utilities and local authorities required to drive continual improvements in road quality and safety.