Written by: Hayden Kobza
Earlier this month, the Board of Commissioners for the City of Collegedale approved the installation of a road scanning service in a 4-1 vote.
According to the Feb. 5 Board of Commissioners meeting agenda, the scanning services will cost the city a total of $56,142.
Eric Sines, director of Public Works for the City of Collegedale, said the new scanning service will remove much of the guesswork from maintaining and paving the roads. In a phone interview with the Accent, Sines said that in the past his team – which includes the city engineer and roads foreman – has had to drive around in a pickup truck, measuring the roads and deciding which ones needed to be fixed.
The scanners were first proposed during the Board of Commissioners meeting held Nov. 6, 2023. During that meeting, it was mentioned that two households reached out to the board via email regarding the scanners.
According to the commissioners, one of those residents believed the scanners were necessary. However, the person who sent the other email believed that the scanners were too expensive and that the city is small enough for a crew to be able to survey the roads by hand. After much discussion, a vote was taken to determine if the scanners would be used, resulting in a 2-2 vote with the scanners not being approved.
Kris McAloon, the staff engineer for Collegedale, stated in an email to the Accent that “the scanners are equipment mounted on a vehicle that utilizes 360° imaging technology to measure road defects, such as cracking and bumps. … Data is then inputted into an Artificial Intelligence (AI) program that calculates, grades and measures the condition of all the pavement city wide.”
During the Feb. 5 meeting, Sines told the commission that the roads would get scanned once and that multiple payments of $18,714 could be spread over the course of three years so that the City of Collegedale does not have to pay the entire cost of $56,142 up front.
According to Sines, the scanning service will not only provide a scan of the road, but also include software that will greatly reduce the amount of time needed to know when and where the streets need to be fixed. Public Works employees will use the software to keep track of road conditions on an ongoing basis. Sines said that the scanning service allows him and his team to use their phones to take photos of road problems and potholes and put them in their system.
