Data Sources
How we collect data:
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The following process is used to determine road and pavement upgrades throughout the city.
Pavement management is a systematic method to assess pavement condition, to identify maintenance and renewal (M&R) needs and to plan pavement maintenance and rehabilitation activities. A pavement management system (PMS) is a tool to track pavement inventory and condition, estimate future condition, determine M&R requirements and costs and develop and prioritize M&R projects.
The pavement management system identifies which roads in Edmonton require maintenance or rehabilitation based on cost and the condition of the road. This process identifies the right treatment, on the right road, at the right time, to improve overall road conditions. It also allows for the City to plan the overall Roadway Renewal Program and the funding required to improve the roads, sidewalks and curbs.
Each year, the City collects roadway, sidewalk and curb data which helps identify what infrastructure requires maintenance or increased rehabilitation, currently and in the future. The data collected each year includes:
Pavement roughness
Pavement structural capacity
Pavement surface level distress
Overall pavement condition
Once all the data is collected, a recommendation is put forward for the type of renewal treatment that is required. The types of upgrades include:
Preventative treatments (examples: crack sealing and microsurfacing)
Spot repairs
Pavement resurfacing
Rehabilitation
Reconstruction
2021 Fact: The City currently manages over 10,000 lane kilometres of roads and 5,568 kilometres of sidewalks.
How we collect data:
The Automatic Road Analyzer (ARAN) is a multipurpose pavement data collection vehicle. To collect the data, the ARAN vehicle uses sensors such as ultrasonics, gyroscopes, lasers, GPS, accelerometers and HD cameras that take measurements along arterial and collector roadways. The ARAN collects information about pavement rutting, grade levels, roughness and crack detection.
Fact: Approximately 2,800 lane kilometres of data is collected by the ARAN each year.
The Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) assesses the pavement strength and capacity. It is a towable trailer that drops a plate onto the road that simulates a moving truck. The results from the plate measures the pavement structure, load carrying capacity and the remaining service life of the road. The FWD collects data for arterial and collector roads.
Fact: Approximately 19,000 structural tests on roughly 500 lane kilometres are completed each year.
A field inspection determines the visual condition of sidewalks and curbs. Field Inspectors will indicate the surface condition, including any pavement distress, and a grade level will be given for the condition.
The City of Edmonton, along with the majority of Alberta municipalities, follows the Alberta specific Visual Condition Index (VCI) as a numerical index between 0 and 10, which is used to indicate the general condition of a pavement section based on visual distresses. This index was based on work originally developed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers and has since been adopted and further developed by the Alberta provincial and municipal transportation agencies. The severity and extent of pavement surface distresses such as cracks, patches/potholes, ruts, distortion and raveling are measured and given a rating score.
The Visual Field Inspections are collected on roads, curbs and sidewalks on set schedules:
Arterial roads, sidewalks and curbs: once every 2 years (even years)
Collector roads, sidewalks and curbs: one every 2 years (odd years)
Local roads, sidewalks, curbs and alleys: once every 4 years
Fact: Approximately 4,000 lane kilometres of roads and 1,500 kilometres of sidewalks are inspected each year.
Online | Contact 311 Online |
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If you are calling from outside of Edmonton: 780-442-5311
Telephone | 311 |
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TTY | 780-944-5555 |