The latest event in CIHT’s Future of Transport Webinar Series, 'Understanding our networks better', took place from the 17 - 19 February, 2021.

The first session, 'How can AI help us understand our networks better?' included an interview with Steve Birdsall - CEO of Gaist. It looked at AI and what AI sensors can help us understand about our networks as well as their limits. 

Steve Birdsall said: 

“A year from now, we won’t be talking about AI anymore – we will be talking about sensor data. That’s the next revolution. At the moment we collect data using lasers, which are one-time snap shots of what is going on and is collected on annually. But what if we could collect data from every car that used the network? Cars with sensors can tell us a lot about what is going on.”

Key points highlighted at this session included:

• The advantages of artificial intelligence have long been recognised in the manufacturing and medical sectors. In terms of highways, the real advantage of AI is the ability to handle big data sets. AI allows Gaist to look at behaviour of materials and behaviour of people. It then allows to factor in agendas such as air quality.
• With Gaist and many other companies using AI technologies occupying this space - how can we regulate results from these methods? AI is only a data processing programme and, according to Steve Birdsall, “AI doesn’t give us the answers but it gives the horse power to get through the data”. It is essential that outputs from AI processing are checked in real life to ensure that they are at the right level of accuracy.

The second session, 'Transport Network - understanding our infrastructure', led by Kevin Dentith, Chief Engineer (Bridges & Structures) Devon County Council and Ginny Clarke, Chair of CIHT Learned Society and Technical Strategy Board, focussed on bridge condition and providing insights into research research and guidance in the sector. There was a focus on understanding the wider social value of the strategic road network and the speakers also presented findings from the RAC Foundation Survey 2020

This webinar also included a presentation by the Chair of Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland (SCOTS) Philip McKay, from the Aberdeenshire Council, on a study to fill a current gap in the understanding of the value of the local road network to society and to the economic wellbeing of Scotland, and enable local authorities to make the case for ongoing investment.

Key points highlighted at this session included:

•  Key findings to note from the RAC Foundation Survey 2020:

1. Sub Standard bridges – highlighted each year but less significant than scour and bridge collapses
2. At the same time there has been a worrying decline in the number of inspections carried out to examine just how much damage rivers, and the debris they carry, are doing to bridges below the waterline. This is storing up trouble for the future as our weather gets more extreme and traffic volumes rise again after the Covid-19 restrictions

• Key findings from the SCOTS research (SCOTS is funding new research in to the value of the local road network. The research project aims to fill a current gap in the understanding of the value of the local road network to the social and economic wellbeing of Scotland and its communities.):

1. Local roads fulfil a number of functions and purposes and this will continue (not solely about getting goods and people from A to B)
2. They don’t and won’t exist in isolation – they supplement, complement and underpin (our systems point)
3. Value takes a number of forms and varies by geography and by stakeholder group
4. Absolute value is immeasurable, relative value will vary (and can be modelled)

The third session, 'The wider impact of highways maintenance', with Garry Sterritt and Richard Abell, both TRL, dealt with TRL's HMEA project which is about showing that highway maintenance has a much wider impact than just “fixing a few roads”, and that we are using this work to open up a wider conversation and support it with numbers.

Key points highlighted at this session included:

• The UKRLG Asset management board is an active group of public sector highway professionals that seek to develop guidance and products to support all highway authorities, including the Highway Maintenance Economic Assessment (HMEA) toolkit
• HMEA is a Model of the life-cycle costs associated with the condition and maintenance of the road network. It includes the indirect costs to users of the road network, some of the environmental impacts of road conditions such as carbon emissions, the costs and benefits of changes in economic growth resulting from the condition of the network and the value of the road network.
• HMEA highlights the difference in economic benefits between at least two scenarios and, therefore illustrates the value of investment in road maintenance.
• Analyses of the costs of maintenance of road networks have, for many years, considered the change in future maintenance costs of alternative actions. Some analyses have also included elements of the indirect impacts of the maintenance work, such as delays to road users at maintenance sites and changes in vehicle operating costs with the condition of the network.

Are you interested in learning more about these and other topics? Why not attend one of our upcoming, monthly Future of Transport webinars? Find them all listed in our Future of Transport Webinar Series Hub.