FOOTWAY MAINTENANCE PART 1: A REVIEW OF PROFILE MONITORING TECHNIQUES

Footways have long been a neglected part of the highway infrastructure. Their maintenance needs can arise as a result of general deterioration with age and use and localised damage that is often a result of vehicle overrun or specific deterioration. In addition to the needs of footway maintenance, the Code of Practice Specification for the Reinstatement of Openings in Highways (1992) approved under the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 requires the accurate measurement of profile deformation against defined intervention criteria. This report together with PR 96 and PR 97 (IRRD 867219 and 867220) was produced by TRL for the Footway Maintenance Working Group which was set up by the Working Party on Highway Research and which in turn set up the Profiler Sub-Group in 1992 to examine and evaluate methods of assessing and quantifying footway condition against defined intervention criteria. Recent advances in computer technology and monitoring techniques have led to the development of machines which are likely to be capable of undertaking the required measurements. This report reviews existing and proposed profile measuring equipment to determine which are compatible with the requirements of a provisional specification for footway defect monitoring. More detailed investigations can then be made of those machines and techniques that are potentially most suitable.