Global Efforts Pursue New Technologies to Improve Safety, Resiliency of Roads

From artificial intelligence to asphalt mixes, stakeholders around the world continue to seek ways to build, maintain and operate roads and highways that are safer, more resilient and more equitable.

For example, the European Union recently implemented requirements for environmental information regarding construction products, requiring reporting on lifecycle impacts like global warming potential, recyclability, and resource efficiency, noted Michael Gruber, a researcher with the Institute for Transportation Sciences at TU Wien, a university in Vienna. Speaking to attendees of the International Road Federation conference held in Long Beach, Calif., Dec. 8-11, he noted that his institution is working on software to create reporting for asphalt mixes.

Thierry Goger, secretary-general with the European National Highway Research Laboratories, also noted the European Union Circularity Circuit, a broad push for an economy of closed-loop systems of reuse, repair, and recycle, with key initiatives such as circular construction in regenerative cities. His agency is working on using digitization to aid in determining new asphalt mixes, recycling cementitious materials for bridge slabs, and reusing existing bridge elements on new structures. Other goals include adaptive lighting for bridge traffic flows, 3D printing for bridge elements and identifying “where circularity can be embedded” in a project’s lifecycle.

Eliot Wall, general manager with GAF, which provides asphalt coatings and sealants meant to create “cool pavements”, said that the company has various projects throughout the U.S. where its epoxy-coated acrylic coating with a solar reflective additive is keeping pavement about 10 to 12 degrees cooler than uncoated surfaces.

Other speakers described projects that use technology to optimize traffic signals and flows. The city of Arcadia, Calif., is piloting a cloud platform that allows traffic engineers to proactively optimize traffic signals for buses, ambulances and other priority vehicles, especially during major events, said Ravindra Kondagunta, CEO of Connected Signals, the technology provider.

The pilot program has resulted in savings of 26% in time to respond to incidents and up to 35% in time to get to a hospital, he said.

Masoud Hamedi, data science director with Iteris, described its ClearGuide software that was used to manage traffic during an 11-mile, $650-million freeway reconstruction project in Arizona. On-demand camera imagery of road and traffic conditions, aided by AI, helped inform such decisions as giving the contractor a bigger work zone in one location and shifting construction closures to better times, such as after school let out.

Carlos Ortiz, CEO of ADVANTEC Consulting Engineers, described a pilot program to create a connected, digitized road network in Coachella Valley, working with 12 agencies and implementing 12,000 intelligent transportation elements across 12 corridors.

The elements include smart CCTV systems with analytics, cellular vehicle-to-everything (v2x) roadside units, changeable message signs and secured ethernet fiber optic communications.

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