Case Study:
The City of Savannah, Georgia
Before RoadBotics by Michelin...
Previously the City of Savannah recruited, trained, and managed interns to assess their roads. This inefficient and expensive process was highly subjective and time intensive.
Unfortunately, it was most cost-effective option at the time.
Time
Six interns assessed one-third of the city’s roads every year. It took the city three years to complete one road condition assessment. The long data-collection cycle forced city officials to use outdated information when planning for paving and maintenance activities.
Subjectivity
Because of the complexity of the task, interns rated the roads differently regardless of the training provided. Moreover, despite their best efforts, using 18 different interns to assess roads over three years led to highly subjective assessments. The city had difficulty making city-wide pavement decisions with this data.
Cost
This approach included recruitment, training, providing equipment, supervision, and compensation to the interns at a total cost of approximately $130,000 over three years. Savannah’s use of interns to assess their road network was the best option at the time when compared to other expensive alternatives.
Solution
RoadBotics by Michelin’s collaboration with the City of Savannah included data collection using smartphones, artificial intelligence (AI)-based condition assessment of the collected data, and delivery of the final assessment on RoadWay – RoadBotics by Michelin’s GIS data visualization platform. The city also received shapefiles of the assessment data for use with their existing in-house GIS system and CSV files for planning and prioritizing
Time
The city’s roads were evaluated in two phases – the first 350 miles were completed in under three months in 2018. The second half of the project was completed in early 2019.
For cities under 1,000 miles, RoadBotics by Michelin provides a comprehensive condition assessment within 90 days from the date of signing the agreement.
Objectivity
The City of Savannah used RoadBotics by Michelin’s objective data to make informed decisions about their pavement maintenance and prioritize the use of limited infrastructure funds. RoadBotics by Michelin’s global library of pavement distresses and use of AI removes the subjectivity of visual inspections.
Cost
RoadBotics by Michelin provided a comprehensive assessment of Savannah’s entire 700-mile road network saved the city over $80,000, and they received a higher quality product in a shorter time. The city was able to redirect these savings towards proactive maintenance.
“This partnership with RoadBotics will allow us to better assess the overall condition of City roadways and increase the accuracy of the data collected. It ultimately allows us to be more effective in managing the replacement of our infrastructure. Our goal is to use our resources in the most efficient manner possible. RoadBotics helps us accomplish that goal by enhancing our ability to better plan and implement City-wide roadway replacement schedules”.
Results
