DfT completes AI health check for local roads

17/01/2020 | DOMINIC BROWNE

The Department for Transport’s £2m local roads health check, which used artificial intelligence to analyse video surveys, has been completed, with results showing broad similarities between the regions.

There were three main strands to the survey: road condition, footway condition and road markings conditions, which was announced last year to much fanfare as it promised artificial intelligence analysis of road condition through data specialists Gaist and with support from the Local Council Roads Innovation Group.

While the full results are yet to be released publicly an exclusive briefing to the Road Safety Markings Association from Gaist outlined some basic findings.

Dr Stephen Remde, director of innovation and research at Gaist, told conference delegates that there were ‘no major divisions between regions, no north-south divide,’ when it came to road markings.

Although some regions did appear to have much larger numbers of unmarked roads, for instance, this mainly related to the size of the rural or unclassified network.

‘The results were pretty uniform throughout the country. The prevalence of lines depends on the class of the road itself. Practically all A and B roads have some visible road markings. C roads have much less,’ Dr Remde said.

‘We can see the condition of the road markings decreases down the hierarchy of roads. A roads are generally better than B, and in turn better than C, which makes sense.’

He added that a lot of value had been created from the data, which is currently being analysed by the DfT.

‘We were able to cost-effectively extract valuable information. Where we work with local authorities we can do this on all their roads – to help target maintenance and work closely with contractors to target problematic areas.’

Over the last nine years, Gaist has been using video as its main collection method for roads data.

It has an image bank for every single metre of the A, B and C network in England. All major cities in Scotland and about a third of the unclassified roads in England as well.

For the national health check it used:

  • About 21% of rural networks
  • 22% of semi-urban
  • 53% or urban networks
  • 36% of city networks

Most of the data was from its existing data bank, which uses human inspections and analysis rather than AI. It also collected some additional imagery where the percentages were slightly too low. It then extrapolated the data to create a national picture.

However, Dr Remde said: ‘A very detailed survey of white lining is not something we could replicate nationally. Our inspectors look through each image and annotate them accordingly. Then we used an artificial intelligence approach called deep learning.

‘We created the training data to teach our AI model how to do our specific task [recognise road markings, lines and symbols]. Our inspectors do a process known as annotation where they look at images and mark them up. They did this on 15,000 different images for the training data.’

These images and annotations are then fed into the AI model, which is trained to recognise road markings. Through ‘inference’, the AI model then provides condition data analysis itself.

Through the process, Gaist found that ‘the ground truth’ from inspectors was often ‘not as good as the image created by our deep learning algorithm’.

Highways InProfile

latest magazine issue
Highways jobs

Director of Transport

£112,924
East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) is on a bold journey. East Midlands Region
Recruiter: East Midlands Combined County Authority

Ferry Host - WMF3049i

£25,584 - £25,992
Ferry Host - WMF3049i Windermere, Cumbria
Recruiter: Westmorland and Furness Council

Director of Streetscene

£94,972 - £108,767
We continue to have big ambitions for our borough Fareham, Hampshire
Recruiter: Fareham Borough Council

Principal Engineer - Urban Traffic Control (UTC)

£44,711 - £49,764
Liverpool is home to vibrant, energetic and engaged communities. Liverpool, Merseyside
Recruiter: Liverpool City Council

Roadworker/Driver

Grade 6 £25,183 - £25,638 per annum (Pay Award Pending)
We’re looking for Roadworker/trainee LGV drivers to be part of our team Derbyshire
Recruiter: Derbyshire County Council

Project Chargehand (2 Posts)

Grade 9 £31,344 - £33,253 per annum (Pay Award Pending)
We’re looking for experienced Project Chargehands to be part of the Highways Construction Services team Derbyshire
Recruiter: Derbyshire County Council

Lawyer 2- Planning and Highways

£49,764 - £54,181
We are looking for a fresh thinking and enthusiastic Planning and Highways Lawyer Hereford, Herefordshire
Recruiter: Herefordshire Council

Development Engineer

£35,967 - £41,268 per annum
Are you ready to play a key role in shaping and safeguarding the future of our highways and public spaces? Bexley (City/Town), London (Greater)
Recruiter: London Borough of Bexley

Professional Services Partnering Manager

Grade 13 £47,653 - £51,296 per annum (pay award pending)
We are seeking a dynamic and experienced Professional Services Partnering Manager to lead the strategic management Darley Dale, Matlock
Recruiter: Derbyshire County Council

Technical Supervision Manager

Grade 13 £47,653 - £51,296 per annum (pay award pending)
We are looking for an experienced and driven Technical Supervision Manager to lead our technical supervision teams within the Highways Service. Derbyshire
Recruiter: Derbyshire County Council

Street Lighting Electrician (CDC)

Grade 8, £32,662 - £36,239 (pay award pending)
Highways Operations is a growing service area within the Place directorate. Doncaster, South Yorkshire
Recruiter: City Of Doncaster Council

Highways Assistant Engineer WMF2133e

£39,513 to £40,476
We have an exciting opportunity for the right person to work within the challenging and ever-changing landscape. Penrith, Cumbria
Recruiter: Westmorland and Furness Council

Highways Inspector/NRSWA

£36,345 - £40,344
We are looking for an organised and self-motivated individual to join our Streetworks Team based in Hackney Central. Hackney, London (Greater)
Recruiter: London Borough of Hackney Council

Structures Commissioner

Grade 14 £53,166 - £59,080 per annum (Pay Award Pending)
We are seeking an experienced and strategic leader to join our team as the Structures Commissioner. Derbyshire
Recruiter: Derbyshire County Council

Team Leader Network Co-ordination

£51,429 - £58,140
As Team Leader for Network Coordination, you’ll manage a team that oversees all works and events on our public highways. Kensington and Chelsea, London (Greater)
Recruiter: The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea Council

PRINCIPAL TRANSPORT PLANNING OFFICER

£43693 - £46731
We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced professional to join our team in Hull as a Principal Transport Planning Officer. Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire
Recruiter: Hull City Council

HIGHWAYS AND TRAFFIC ENGINEER - 4 POSTS

£43693 - £46731
We have several exciting opportunities for suitably qualified Highways Civil Engineers and Traffic Engineers Wilson Centre, 1st floor, Hull HU1 2AG
Recruiter: Hull City Council

Principal Transport Planner

£45,718 to £49,764
Do you have considerable experience in the transport strategy and policy, and are you looking for your next career development opportunity? Sheffield, South Yorkshire
Recruiter: Sheffield City Council

Project Lead - Bridges and Structures WMF3037e

£45,718 to £46,731
We are currently seeking to recruit a Project Lead to join our Bridges and Structures team Kendal, Cumbria
Recruiter: Westmorland and Furness Council
SUBSCRIBE NOW

Latest Video

Subscribe to Highways today to ensure you keep your finger on the pulse of everything happening in the UK road network throughout the year.

SUBSCRIBE NOW