Road Data Collection and Database Establishment in Developing CountriesThree Case Studies D. Mihajlovic1 and I.

Jokanovic2
1

Dragan Mihajlovic, Ph.D., Professor, Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering, University of Banja Luka, 77 Vojvode Stepe Stepanovica Boulevard, 78000 Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, e-mail: dram@inecco.net 2 Igor Jokanovic, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering, University of Banja Luka, 77 Vojvode Stepe Stepanovica Boulevard, 78000 Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, e-mail: jokanovic@blic.net ABSTRACT Developing countries have recognized the need for availability of road asset data several decades ago, just short time after the developed once. However, establishment of systematic data collection, appropriate databases and management systems has failed because of the poorly developed network requiring expansion and modernization, and lack of available funds, equipment and staff. Former Yugoslavia, once the leader of the Balkan region, has commenced development of the data collection methodology and road database in the late 1980s, but the crisis has stopped almost all activities. Significant differences existed in the level of achievement, although the activities have started at the same time and resources were available for all the parts of the former state. Authors are presenting the latest developments and their experience within three former Yugoslav republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Macedonia) clearly demonstrating problems and challenges facing road management agencies, as well as lessons learned through the projects they have been involved with. INTRODUCTION Road management is a framework for making cost-effective resource allocation, programming and management decisions. It combines engineering principles with sound business practices and economic theory, and provides tools to facilitate a more organized, logical and comprehensive approach to decision-making. An inventory of the road assets and means to assess their condition and model their performance enable the road agency to identify investment requirements for improvement in the short and long term and make decisions. Useful and reliable data are central to a fully functioning road management process. Road management is a data-intensive process that involves gathering, retrieval, storage, analysis and communication of enormous quantities of data. The information

drawn from these data is essential to decision-making process underlying road management. Information is required to evaluate and monitor the condition and performance of the asset inventory, develop performance objectives and measures, identify cost-effective investment strategies and conduct asset value assessments. Information is also required to monitor the effectiveness of the road management business process. Although it is not necessary to store all the transportation systems data in a single repository, it is critical that the data be readily accessible and comparable. Data integration and data sharing, therefore, are vital components of road management. Data, i.e. inventory, condition, traffic, environmental and cost data, is vital to the success of any management system. Without data, it is not possible to conduct proper analysis and monitoring of the road network. Problems with data are one of the main causes cited in failure of a Road Management System (RMS) or Pavement Management System (PMS). The road agency must inevitably collect a huge amount of data. Each data item requires time, effort and money to collect, store, retrieve and use. The task of the agencys staff, working on data collection and analysis, is to support the management in strengthening the decision making process and increasing productivity. At the same time, it should provide balance between data items that may be considered as desirable, interesting or, possibly, useful in the future, and those that are essential. ROAD DATA COLLECTION IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA History of road database implementation in the former Yugoslavia started in early 1980s. At that time, the group of experts (called expert committee) was established at the federal level. Their specific tasks were to: develop a common federal basis for establishment of the road database; establish the road database dictionary; develop and assist in implementation of the road data collection methodology. Different interests within the road sector in the former Yugoslav republics governed success of the committee. However, the committee has managed to establish the general ground for the database development and its dictionary. The conclusion was to recommend further studies and implementation at the level of the individual road agencies in the former republics. Highway Institute from Belgrade produced the first version of a computerized road database (RDB) for Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia. Existing documentation and field surveys (from 1981 to 1984) were utilized as the source of information on road inventory (geometry, pavement width, structures and traffic equipment and signalization). This data is still available, mostly as the hard copy of the system (usually referred to as the road cadastre), in graphical form. Similar surveys have been done in Croatia and Slovenia. This database contained only basic

data on roads, without any piece of information regarding condition of pavements and equipment, traffic volume, works and costs, etc. In 1988, one of the main targets of the World Bank 3rd Sector Loan was establishment of the road database for all republics of the former Yugoslavia and introduction of a PMS based on the HDM-III. However, due to the known circumstances and crisis, nothing extensive has been achieved at that time. Later on, at the beginning of 1990s, the engineers of the Institute for Materials Testing from Belgrade, have managed to design the road survey vehicle. It was developed based on the several available survey technologies at that time, but containing only devices for precise registration of road geometry and distance and video logging equipment (front and rear cameras). However, other survey devices, like those for measurement of longitudinal roughness, lateral profile, texture or similar, were not implemented. Same experts developed the database (Informix platform) and populated it with the original data from 1992-1993 survey. Update was during 1996 and 1997 for approximately one third of the network. In addition, a survey program was established, making the differentiation between main/trunk roads and regional roads. Afterwards, situation dramatically changed only in two of the former Yugoslav republics. Slovenia and Croatia, utilizing the knowledge of local consulting companies, have developed their own systems and, by integration of the RDB into management systems (pavement management, bridge management and asset management), have enabled efficient management of the road network. LATEST DEVELOPMENTS In the last 10 to 15 years, enormous resources were invested in Balkan states for improvement of roads condition, as well as for new developments. In order to support these improvements and capacity building of the road agencies, international financing institutions have landed numerous road management support loans/credits including data collection and road database components, almost as a rule. Among the states constituted after the fall of the old union, Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H), Republic of Serbia (RS) and Republic of Macedonia (RM) were the remaining ones that did not manage to provide improvements to the formerly developed databases and data collection methodologies. This can be justified with the lack of their own resources during this period, not only for the services dealing with data collection, but also for the overall maintenance of the state road network. However, main reasons for this are found in the lack of support of the international community to changes of relations and management practice in the road sector and instable political situation within these countries. Once when the required changes were inevitable and the support became evident, all three countries have commenced road management support projects within 5 years after the first project of such kind was launched in B&H (in 2004). Shortly after the RS

started its project in 2007 and the RM the latest, in September 2009. All these projects have recognized the need to provide relevant information for solid decision-making process. Terms of Reference were prepared based on the good practice and recommendations in the road sector worldwide, emphasizing the following facts. An information system usually serves several goals of the road agency, i.e. road planning, design and investments, and the needs when organizing routine maintenance and protection of roads. This complexity of multiple goals also imposes higher requirements on the information system. Information is needed on items such as network details, traffic and axle loads, costs, road conditions, etc, which in turn require the existence of relevant data on which the information can be based. The need to assess physical condition, safety, level of service and efficiency of operation of road systems is widely recognized. In addition to knowing the characteristics of the existing system, it is becoming increasingly important to be able to predict the effects that proposed policies are likely to have in the future. Such predictive capabilities enable the decision maker to test alternative courses of action to determine which policies and strategies will be the most effective in accomplishing the desired goals with the resources available. A RDB should include the following data about roads and structures: - technical data about roads and structures (road network data); - information about expenses on roads (works and costs data); - information about use of roads (traffic and vehicle data). The RDB comprises descriptive, numeric, graphical, pictorial and other data about roads and structures thereon. Its purpose is to provide: - an overview of the condition of roads and structures thereon; - data needed for administration, construction, maintenance and protection of roads and traffic thereon; - data needed for official statistics by administrative organs, other institutions and individuals. More often than not, a simple, flexible, scalable and modularized software package is recommended for a usable and sustainable RMS/PMS which can be easily and economically extended over time, as the database structure implemented might be required to incorporate different data needs related to planning process, different levels of data complexity might be required to be included in the database, and more reports and management functionality might be required with time. The database structure should be an open one, based on personal computers, and it should serve as a support to any type of the RMS/PMS, with the ability to evolve and where data can be added when required and wished. Bosnia and Herzegovina. Roads, bridges and tunnels database project (BHRBTD, 2004-2005) was the part of the World Bank sponsored Road Management and Safety Project performed between 2002 and 2007. This component of the project comprised

of definition and establishment of the database and survey for the complete network of B&H (approximately 8.500 km). It has to be noted that the B&H road network is managed by two different road agencies at the entity level. During the project, these two agencies have been at the considerably different levels of organization and performance. Several activities within one of the entities (Republic of Srpska) have been already accomplished. Two of the most important ones are establishment of the road reference system (node/section based) and complete transformation of the road maintenance (market oriented), which helped a lot during road survey. On the other side, at the time of project commencement, road agency at the other entity (Federation of B&H) has been just established as the separate body under the Ministry of Transport and Communications. As the prerequisite for all activities regarding survey and database, complete reference system had to be established and a lot of time was spent to reach mutual understanding and adopt common basis for definition of nodes and sections. On the other side, road survey went surprisingly well, with utilization of sophisticated ARAN vehicle (Check Republic) and semi-manual Viziroad system (France), and additional pavement survey equipment (Kern device, Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP), Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD)). Along with the collection of data on road inventory, it was also possible to collect condition data on pavement and other road elements. During the road survey, the consultant has been working on development of the database structure and its interface with the HDM-4 (Highway Development and Management). Actually, the database is not a real database, but a series of the MS Excel tables (csv format) connected through the French software Routen, a kind of simplified database management system (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Database management organization Database contains all necessary inventory data on roads (geometry, cross section, drainage, traffic signalization and equipment, structures, settlements, etc), road condition data (distress type and intensity) and data for specific analysis (traffic volumes, traffic forecast, climate zones, etc), grouped in 38 tables.

Beside the Routen program, additional four computer programs have been delivered, namely: Sillage (creation of strip diagrams), Carten (simplified GIS), Couplen (reference system management) and Routen-HDM (HDM-4 interface). Establishment of the database and road survey has been done relatively fast and smoothly, and appropriate training of staff at both road agencies followed it. In addition, the program of future data update has been prepared. Just after the completion of the project, the Republic of Srpska road agency has procured two devices for road survey (FWD and longitudinal profiler) to measure deflections and IRI parameters. However, the problems have raised after completion of the project: - thorough crosscheck of data has revealed all the deficiencies, mainly associated with road geometry and pavement widths, as well as the absence of data for parts or even complete sections where survey speed dropped under 30 km/h; - both road agencies failed to adopt or develop their own survey and data update programs; - devices for road survey are only being used at sections planned to undergo major maintenance or rehabilitation work, which is not more than 200-250 km/year; - data update was not performed since completion of the project in 2005; - data has been used only once for both road directories to perform the five-year studies on road rehabilitation, and to some extend for presentation of the road accident data; - staff that was initially trained to work with the database and additional programs left the road agencies or changed their duties. Republic of Serbia. Similar to the project in B&H, Transport Rehabilitation Project, with the road database component was also financed by the World Bank (RSRDB, 2007-2009). Main tasks to be accomplished were review and improvement of the existing reference system, road network survey, implementation of database and installation of the HDM-4. The main problem occurred at the very beginning of the services. Although the reference system has been established some 15 years ago, the network was not exactly known even at the road agency, in particular concerning regional roads. This was established through identification of sections that were still under construction or do not exist at the field. This was however, overcome by making corrections to the existing system and introducing several attributes for proper addressing of these problems. In addition, most of the roads have been traveled before main survey to identify routes for proper organization and performance of the main survey. Data on road inventory and condition of pavement and other road elements was collected by ARAN vehicle (Check Republic) and ROMDAS vehicle (RS), and additional pavement survey equipment (Kern device, DCP, FWD, Skid Resistance Tester (SRT), Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)). Consequence of the unknown network, and very bad pavement condition on regional roads (several times the ARAN

vehicle had to travel along unpaved earth roads), was that survey took more time than estimated at the beginning (9 months comparing to 5 originally). Database was built on the MS SQL Server platform, under the HIMS (HDM-4 Information Management System) software. HIMS has a very robust and user-friendly interface, and is divided into two components. One of the components deals with the data (Road Information System) and the other one, called PMS, performs data analyses, automatic sectioning of roads (with manual refinement enabled) and preparation of data for the HDM-4 studies. Data tables are organized in eight modules, namely: reference system, sections, assets, traffic, pavements, costs, visual documentation and organization, with 72 tables. Structure of the system is presented at Figure 2. HIMS is front-end of the RDB while MS SQL Server is the back-end database. The objective of the GIS module included in HIMS is to provide a facility or platform to end users to view objects such as road network, province/administrative boundary in a map viewer. It enables the user to generate thematic maps of current road condition, inventory, traffic data and assigned PMS programs. The GIS enabled component does not allow creation and modification of GIS objects (layers) such as node, roads, sections, etc. However, GIS objects and maps can be imported into the system after being created outside the system in an industry standard map objects format such as tab, shape, mif, etc.

Figure 2. Organization of the system During the services, parallel to road survey and database development, several additional documents were prepared, such as program of data update, program of HDM-4 calibration studies, review of road survey equipment with recommendations for future procurement and road survey contractual arrangements, etc. Also, full training has been performed. The system was handed over at the end of 2009, and still passes through some problems mainly associated with the staff not being familiar with the data (type and quantity) and system architecture.

Republic of Macedonia. The project in the RM (RMTA, 2009-2010) is only to some extend similar to the previous two. It is financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and commenced in the autumn of 2009. Main task of the technical assistance is to assist the state road agency in implementation of the new Law on Public Roads and with transfer of duties from the maintenance contractor to the agency. Both data collection of any type and database were previously delegated to the maintenance contractor. However, all previous activities were endangered by lack of financial resources and trained staff. Reference system, as it could be expected, was not implemented. It has been defined in the early 1990s, but since that time nothing has been done to make any updates and to establish it in the field or for tracking up the activities on the network. The idea of the consultant, which is strongly supported by the client, is to establish reference system similar to the two previously mentioned, and develop data collection methodology to be executed on a contractual basis (outsourced). Initial survey of the local capabilities and available equipment showed that the local engineers and technicians are not familiar with modern data collection technologies and that road survey equipment is generally not available. The road agency owns FWD and roughness device, but they are not in working condition. Duties of the consultant are to analyze needs and propose the system organization, make basic initial survey of road inventory (limited to section lengths, pavement types and widths), develop the database and propose options for data collection and system management. So far, the first activity has been completed and the system proposed is same as the one implemented in the RS. In addition, database structure was proposed, with several improvements made upon the experience in B&H and RS. Full survey of the network assets and condition of pavements and other road elements has to be performed by the client. Having the experience from B&H and RS and after the RM initial capacity survey, this could be identified as the main obstacle for full database population and future work on data update and system management. LESSONS LEARNED Experience gained through participation on these three projects can be summarized as follows: road network in developing countries is usually not completely known, which is especially the case with second and third level roads; staff specialized to deal with data collection and processing and database management are scarce and are often not willing to cooperate; road survey equipment is either old and broken or is not being used for regular surveys; there are no methodologies developed and/or adopted for data collection, processing, verification and update;

local consulting companies are not interested in providing these types of services or, if they are interested, they are usually understaffed or underequipped. SUSTAINABILITY Experience of various countries and road agencies shows that many existing data collection technologies and analysis tools are not being used to their full potential to influence investment decision-making. This under-utilization is related to the capabilities of the tools themselves, the credibility of input data and models and organizational factors. The most successful applications occurred when an organization had made a sustained, multi-year commitment to integrating use of the data and tool within its decision-making processes and supporting an internal champion to improve the tool over time based on feedback from end-users and decision-makers. All systems rely on three fundamental components: processes, people and technology. Of course, appropriate funding is one of the prerequisites. If any of these components are lacking, the system will not be successful. The best technology in the world will ultimately fail if implemented in an environment where there are no people to run it, or where the processes are not in place to utilize it. CONCLUSION Establishment and population of the RDB, at its initial phase, can be very discouraging task, when there is no previous quality information on all necessary data. Probably the heaviest task is to select what data has to be recorded in order to fulfill the aim of management. In any case, it is important to avoid collection of data that is totally irrelevant for this purpose. Experience tells that it is easy to collect and store data, to develop software for data management, but it is very hard to estimate what data is necessary for the future period, both short- and long-term and to ensure regular updating of the information. Beside this, there is a wide range of technologies available to the road agency for measuring attributes of the road network. The challenge is to select the appropriate equipment, given local conditions and the way in which the data are expected to be used. The technology of road condition survey and monitoring worldwide is continuing to develop. Equipment manufacturers are continually upgrading pavement condition data collection and processing equipment to incorporate the latest technologies. Much of this effort is inspired by a desire for more real-time data analysis as more agencies collect more data. On the basis of experience from the three projects and upon thorough review of the existing practice worldwide (considering data availability, data collection methodologies, institutional, equipment and staff capacity and capability), the following is recommended for road agencies in developing countries:

determine the type and amount of data necessary for proper network and program level studies, in line with the database structure and requirements; establish a simple, but detail data collection policy; establish sound and constantly improving budget for data collection and management; out-source data collection with specialist equipment (including seasonal and main pavement inspections, and inspections of structures) and processing on the basis of detail terms of reference for the services and specification of the equipment to be used; out-source data management, including verification/validation, database upload, database management, data update, etc, on the basis of detail terms of reference for the services and specification of the equipment to be used (these two contracts can be joined for the period of at least three years); require establishment of database and data analysis process based on commercial-off-the-shelf products to allow for rapid prototyping and implementation, ensuring that the road agency has the maximum length of time during the project to become familiar with the system and understand its use in the organization; establish precise and detail data quality assurance policy, and require the contractor for data collection and management to produce its own quality assurance plan in line with the policy; require the contractor for data collection and management to train the assigned agency staff (lectures, on-the-job training); establish and implement a system of technical (internal and/or external) auditing to be carried out on data and systems, and the recommendations acted on. REFERENCES Consulting Services for Road Data Base (RSRDB). (2007-2009). Project Documentation, Belgrade, Republic of Serbia Roads, Bridges and Tunnels Database (BHRBTD). (2004-2005). Project Documentation, Banja Luka/Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Technical Assistance to the Agency for State Roads to Implement the New Law on Roads (RMTA). (2009-2010). Project Documentation, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia