Opportunities and Challenges With Automation in Road Construction and Condition Monitoring in England
England’s road construction sector is facing another leap in technology, particularly one associated with pavement assessment and compliance testing. Old methods, manual handling associated with site works/testing and data collection, files of paperwork, longchained approval systems, which are widely utilised in projects, can lead to substantial inefficiency, health and safety risks, which reduces productivity and ultimately profit. On the contrary, digitization has been a new norm in industries such as manufacture, finance and commerce, where leaner technologies are frequently emerging and adopted. In response to the new norm, road construction industry has started adopting the latest advancement in digital in-situ pavement assessment technology. This new approach was aimed to obtain substantial improvement in the productivity levels, quality and safety of the construction industry and to minimise impact on the environment. A new concept called “Construction 4.0” was subsequently introduced to implement this approach. The key components of “Construction 4.0”, which are often associated with smart automation, predictive intelligent, real-time data exchange, 4D executions and immediate field-to-office stakeholder communication, are at early stages; however, the authors have started witnessing the realisation of some of these key components. In the last 5 years, the UK road construction industry has started trialling and implementing digitalisation and BIM (Building Information Management). These have allowed a complete seamless process for monitoring the compliance and quality of a construction site, as well as developing a concept to monitor the performance in service by integrating automated digital data collection (smart sensors) and cloud-based asset management tools. This paper presents findings from a recent collaborative research between Highways England, Mineral Products Associations, Eurobitume UK and AECOM. The presentation covers an overview on opportunities and challenges, as well as lessons learnt, from selected local and national road construction schemes in England. It will also include discussions on potential benefits and reducing risks both physical and commercial associated with the new technology.
- Record URL:
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Supplemental Notes:
- Abstract reprinted with permission of the World Road Association – PIARC.
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Corporate Authors:
World Road Association (PIARC)
La Grande Arche, Paroi Nord, Niveau 5
F-92055 La Defense Cedex, France -
Authors:
- Widyatmoko, I
- D’Angelo, G
- Xu, Yingying
- Hudson-Griffiths, R
- Khojinian, A
- Simms, M
- Giles, D
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Conference:
- 26th World Road Congress
- Location: Abu Dhabi , United Arab Emirates
- Date: 2019-10-6 to 2019-10-10
- Publication Date: 2019
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 14p
- Monograph Title: Proceedings of the 26th World Road Congress - Abu Dhabi - 2019: Connecting Cultures - Enabling Economies
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Acceptance tests; Automated highways; Automation; Building information models; Construction industry; Data collection; Monitoring; Pavement maintenance; Productivity; Real time data processing; Road construction; Technological innovations
- Geographic Terms: England
- Subject Areas: Construction; Data and Information Technology; Highways; Pavements;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01756630
- Record Type: Publication
- Files: TRIS
- Created Date: Oct 29 2020 9:35AM