Revolutionizing Gravel Road Management: RDMC Technology

Most of Finland’s 450,000 km long road network is public gravel roads, private roads or forestry roads. These gravel roads can rightly be considered as main arteries critical to economic life. However, appreciation of these roads is insufficient, which affects their condition.

The Evolution of Road Condition Monitoring

Since 1998, the ROADEX project has been underway in Northern Europe, with a lot of development work related to gravel road condition management. In this work, Roadscanners has been participating throughout the project. In early 2023, ROADEX also released an electronic eLearning training package for gravel and forestry roads, which is available at the link. The package has collected basic information relevant to the forestry and gravel road management, and new research methods are also present.

Traditionally, one of the main problems with the gravel road management has been the lack of access to road condition data based on objective measurements. Instead, road condition monitoring has remained visual, and addressing the problems took place only after detection of serious deficiencies. This has often led, for example, to the same problem sites requiring grading year after year, since there has been no information on the recurrence of problems.

The Shift: From Visual to Objective Measurements

However, thanks to rapid developments in digitalization, sensor technology, positioning technology and telecommunications connections, the situation is changing. Recently, monitoring the surface condition and service level of roads has become possible even in real time. Roadscanners Oy’s solution to this challenge is the RDMC (Road Doctor Maintenance Controller) method, where monitoring of the surface condition of gravel roads, and also paved roads, is possible using an accelerometer and a digital camera. Measurements are positioned using GPS. The results automatically appear in a cloud, where they are immediately visible. If desired, the measurement takes place completely automatically and the driver of the vehicle does not need to take any actions. Installation of the equipment on different vehicles is quick and does not require special skills.

Exploring RDMC Technology

Roadscanners Oy has developed the RDMC concept mainly in its own projects and since 2021 in pilot areas in cooperation with the ELY Centre in Central Finland. The aim has been to produce a real-time objective snapshot of road networks in maintenance contracted areas, conducting the daily maintenance of gravel roads and paved roads. The device is installed on the vehicles of road management project managers, where they measure the condition of the roads in conjunction with other daily monitoring of the work. The sensors of the RDMC vehicle can measure the total unevenness of gravel roads at different times of the year, but at the same time aim to detect such things as “washboarding”, holes, frost heaves, as well as the side slope and rapid changes thereof. The system also includes, if desired, a LiDAR to measure rutting and, for example, verges.

The experiences from using the hardware have been very promising. Based on measurements, repeated problematic gravel road sites are easy to identify. Usage has also provided unique measurement data on variations in the smoothness of gravel roads at different times of the year.

Real-Time Benefits and Promising Results

Scope of automated real-time gravel road RDMC measurements includes routine maintenance monitoring or, for example, annual private road condition mapping and monitoring. The technique has several advantages over visual observations and observations based on recollected memory:

• Automatic storage of all data in the cloud service with coordinates during a drive through, there is no need for a separate press of the save button.
• Measured, objective results on the condition of the road make it possible to compare the daily monitoring of the contractor, especially on gravel roads, but also on paved roads.
• Measurements are possible at any time of the year, including winter.
• Private roads owners can monitor the development of roads over the long term. At the same time, we can see if the problem sites are always in the same places, making it easier and cheaper to repair.
• The system can be used to measure even minor changes after rehabilitation and highlight potential problems during the warranty period. The method also allows you to learn the effectiveness of different types of solutions.
• Daily maintenance contractors can receive feedback based on objective survey data.
• Private road associations and road users can be shown the true condition of a road at a given time. Feedback is easier to respond to when the latest results and photos of certain sections of a road are visible on a computer or mobile phone screen.

The advantages of the system also include a reasonable cost structure and ease of use, as measurement takes place in connection with other driving.

For more information

Contact us and get more information about RDMC.