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City of York Council Case Study

A Case Study
City of York Department of Environment and Development Services,
Highways and Street Operations

In 2004, Omnicom Engineering Limited (OEL) of York was contracted by the City of York Council Highways Street Operations to supply a digital video image survey covering 242 kilometres of city highway using a vehicle-based multi-view camera configuration.

The high-quality survey image data produced by OEL is geo-spatially postioned using a combination of Global Positioning System (GPS) and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) control.

The department's own asset management team used OEL's OmniSurveyor3D® software to view the imagery and locate, populate and manage an inventory of over 14,500 carriageway and footway asset records. The team, which included five trained OmniSurveyor3D® users, was able to do this efficiently and accurately using desktop computers in the safety of an office environment.

In using OmniSurveyor3D® to produce inventory data, the Council has been able to carry out a valuation of its highway assets. Councils are required to produce a benchmark valuation of their highway infrastructure assets by March 2007.

While evaluating the costs and associated benefits of the OmniSurveyor3D® system, the department evaluated a number of options, such as:

  • The significant reduction of time-consuming manual on-site survey practices
  • The health and safety risks associated with on-site surveying, including factors such as variable speed traffic zones, busy locations and inclement weather conditions
  • The real and hidden costs of site surveys etc in comparison to the digital video survey

The City of York

The City of York is located in Northern England and lies at the juncture of the Rivers Ouse and Foss. Originally founded by the Romans in AD71, the city enjoyed a long history rich in the influences of Roman, Viking and Medieval cultures and architectures.

The modern-day City of York, created on April 1, 1996, is a unitary authority and an administrative county in its own right. The city has a steadily growing population of 183,000. The annual budget spend includes £43M on capital and approximately £316M on running of services. The council's total assets are valued at £750M (source: www.york.gov.uk)

Stephen Moulds is the Highway Asset Manager of the City's Highways and Street Operations Section. Supported by Richard Challand, Asset Engineering Technician, the department is responsible for managing the assets, infrastructure and condition of over 750 kilmetres of highway and 975 kilometres of footway.

The highway network includes a mix of A, B, C and unclassified roads. Major routes include the A19 (Teesside and Selby), the A1079 (Hull) and the A59 (Harrogate). The city centre has a bi-directional inner ring highway and a northern bypass made up from a number of road segments which pass through the city's medieval walls and gate bars.

In producing the new, provisional, Local Transport Plans (2006-2011), the City of York is building upon the success of the first plan and is seeking to address the fact that, assuming no action is taken, traffic in York is predicted to grow by 27% in the next 15 years. The five-year transport programme for the city will be set within this context. Major funding allocations earmarked for the first five years of the plan's life span include:

  • outer ring road improvements
  • improved management of the highway network
  • buses and Park and Ride
  • walking and cycling off-road route provision
  • air quality improvements
  • safety measures
  • York Central - a strategic development area

City of York Transport Asset Management Plan

Current Position

City of York originally commenced work on a Transport Asset Management Plan in the autumn of 2003 following the appointment of Stephen Moulds as the new Asset Manager within the Highways and Streets Department. Initial work concentrated on highway asset management.

Included within this initial investigation are all the constituent elements of the adopted highway which the council has a duty to maintain:

Carriageways and footways including on-street cycle routes
Structures bridges, culverts and retaining walls
Street lighting including illuminated signs and bollards
Road markings and signs including coloured surfacing
Verges, trees and street furniture including barriers and safety fencing not associated with structures
Highway drainage including gullies
Traffic signals and urban traffic control including Variable Message Signs (VMS
Public rights of way  

The plan follows the framework for Highway Asset Management published by the County Surveyor's Society concentrating on an intial investigation into:

The inventory data held by the council Current asset management practices. Extent, reliability and currency of the data held
The existing condition of the asset As demonstrated by performance indicators, surveys and records
Routine maintenance Existing maintenance regimes
Replacement/Renewal Existing programme identification and development
Performance gaps Gaps between existing and desired levels of service

Other Use of OmniSurveyor3D®

In line with our Transport Asset Management Plan, we concentrated primarily on highway assets, collecting relevant information about carriageways, footways, kerbs and node points. Understanding our specific assets and infrastructure data requirements, OEL configured our underlying database, thus ensuring we collected our data quickly and efficiently. In addition, OEL also adjusted the data export tool to allow the collected records to be imported into our UK Pavement Management System (UKPMS) without manual intervention.

In addition, two very useful features were the measuring function and map viewer, which enabled us to easily and quickly determine and validate changes in the cross-sectional profile of the infrastructure.

Multi-view Digital Video Imagery with Asset and Infrastructure Database Records

Asset, Infrastructure, Measurement and Ordnance Survey Map Location

Added Value Benefits using OmniSurveyor3D®

The group's operations have realised a number of significant benefits from the council's investment in OmniSurveyor3D®.

  • Digital video image data has the advantage that it can be revisited time and time again as other asset data becomes important
  • The system enables consistent knowledge and interpretation, crucial factors in capturing asset data efficiently and accurately
  • Integration of digital imagery with Ordnance Survey Land-line (OSNTF data) and OSTN network data
  • Powerful and accurate measurement tools allow infrastructure areas to be safely calculated for valuations
  • Extraction and migration of the collected asset and infrastructure data into United Kingdom Pavement Management System (UKPMS) format
  • Potential to use integrated Virtual Objects (traffic signage) to assist with the effective pre-planning Highways Maintenance Schemes and Road Improvements
  • The capability to position virtual traffic signals in the digital data and so evaluate line of sight and visibility
  • Highway and Street Operations have a greater control of their asset data both in terms of its location but also regular monitoring of its condition

Extent of the Asset and Infrastructure Survey of York

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