An Innovative Footpath Pavement Management System for Auckland Transport

Traditionally footpath inspections are done either on foot which is slow and labor intensive, or from a vehicle driving on the carriageway. Both often give inconsistent and inaccurate results. A mobile footpath inspection vehicle, consisting of a 50cc scooter and an on-board data capture system, has been developed for inspecting and collecting footpath condition data for Auckland Transport. Voice recognition technology is utilized so that the inspector can record type and severity of faults hands-free. All location information (route position, road id#, footpath id#, street address) is captured automatically through GPS tracking technology. The system also automatically calculates the condition grade of each footpath section based on fault types, quantity and severity. This mobile inspection system greatly enhances the efficiency, accuracy and consistency of collecting and managing footpath condition data. Three years of inspections have been completed for over 6,800 km of footpath managed by Auckland Transport. Optimized 3-year and 10-year footpath renewal programmes have been developed based on the footpath condition data collected, helping Auckland Transport make more informed decisions for better management of their footpath assets.