Blackpool form Strategic Partnership....

23 July 2007, 4:24pm

Blackpool form Strategic Partnership for the Management and Collection of Highways Condition Survey Information

Blackpool Council has formed a strategic partnership with Data Collection to improve the condition of the highways and footways in the popular seaside resort. The Council has invested in Data Collection’s MARCH Pavement Management System (PMS) to measure and improve the Council’s performance and implement a
best value highway maintenance programme. Blackpool Council has also signed a 3-year contract with Data Collection for provision of highways condition surveys using the latest mobile laser mapping technology.

The relationship between Blackpool Council and Data Collection has been developed over the last seven years. When Blackpool decided to replace their existing PMS they turned to Data Collection, as the providers of their survey
condition data, in order to maximise their return on investment and cement their position as one of the top-ranked authorities in highways maintenance.

“A recent strategic study of UKPMS reported that 85% of Local Authorities used their PMS solely for the production of Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPI),” said Will Britain, Blackpool Council’s Principal Engineer for Network Management. “This wasn’t good enough for us. The partnership with Data
Collection is specifically designed to increase the understanding of the condition of the highway network and to develop the systems needed to gain value for money from any maintenance programme by targeting resources effectively. This is a good example of public and private enterprises working together to maximise value for money.”

MARCHpms from Data Collection is a user-friendly system specifically designed for UKPMS analysis of survey data and can be used to produce BVPI reports. However, Blackpool Council has tailored their analysis to meet their own higher specification and optimise use of the system with changes to aggregation
methods, condition ranking and treatment intervention levels.

Blackpool also uses MARCHpms to project the highway network condition over future years. This enables them to prioritise maintenance works based on best value methods, identifying the most cost effective treatment and the timing of the treatment before the road condition deteriorates requiring a more expensive solution.

Data Collection has also been awarded a 3-year contract for the provision of highways condition surveys. Data Collection’s state of the art ARAN2 mobile mapping vehicle is used to capture Surface Condition Assessment for the
National Network of Roads (SCANNER) data such as road geometry, surface profile, surface texture, edge deterioration and cracks for use in the MARCHpms software.

www.datacollection.co.uk)

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