Adaptive optimisation of road transport infrastructure management

A road transport system should aim to achieve a fair balance between safety, user satisfaction, condition, cost and the environment. This is facilitated by appropriate asset management techniques for which data quality and analysis are crucial in determining success. However, road managers and engineers who use the data do not have the appropriate tools that enable them to look critically at the data, assess their quality and above all use the knowledge embedded in the data. As a result, they may not acquire an insight, through an appropriate analysis and use of these data, into whether the management processes concerned are likely to be successful and how they could be improved with regard to the key interrelated factors of safety, user satisfaction, condition, cost and the environment.
The research aims to develop a novel methodology and associated computer software to enhance the strategic management of roads by investigating the application of natural computation to road management and engineering. The proposed research will exploit the data collected by the road industry to provide better management processes for the practicing road manager.

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