AP to collect road network data using hi-tech survey vehicles

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh government will create a database of all the roads maintained by the Roads and Buildings Department in the state using multi-purpose high technology network survey vehicles.

The Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) has supplied these vehicles to AP government and were flagged off by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu here today.

Officials from the ARRB briefed the salient features of the vehicles as the Chief Minister conducted a trial run from his office on some of the roads in the city. These vehicles will be used for collection of high-quality data using Hawkeye technology on asset-related parameters of the R&B roads in the state.

The state-of-the-art vehicles, being deployed for the first time in India, are fitted with digital cameras, digital laser profilers, GPS, crack detection and data acquisition equipment. The vehicles will help collect data like physical features of the road, carriage width, shoulder width, boundaries, bridges, culverts and location.

The vehicles also capture the condition of pavements, potholes on roads, cracks, edge breaks and road surface undulation, a release from the Chief Minister's Office said.

Collection of data on the road network will be completed by August and the R&B Department will use to plan, design, operate and maintain the state road network efficiently.

Andhra Pradesh is now bringing in a Road Management System under the World Bank-assisted Road Sector Project for effective implementation of road improvement plans and prioritising annual road maintenance works on scientific lines.