North Yorkshire County Council trials new tech to stay ahead in winter roads maintenance

At one of the weather stations are (from left): Mike Francis of NY Highways; Erik Sucksdorff, sales director at Vaisala; Jo Wright, sales manager at Vaisala; Richard Marr, highway area manager at North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC); Nigel Smith, head of highway operations at NYCC; Barrie Mason, assistant director, highways and transportation at NYCC; Jarkko Sairanen, Vaisala’s executive vice president for weather and the environment; and Alan Palfreyman, technical officer at NYCC.

Hi-tech systems will be employed to ensure 5,800 miles of road in North Yorkshire stay open this winter even during severe weather.

Artificial intelligence, computer modelling and live data as well as cutting-edge sensors to check road surface temperatures and moisture levels will be used by North Yorkshire County Council to closely monitor thousands of miles of roads.

The county council’s highways team has already invested in equipment to provide it with the most up-to-date weather information. The last tranche of investment was more than £500,000.

Alongside up-to-the-minute weather forecasts, its network of 27 weather stations at key locations across England’s largest county provide real-time information to help the council make accurate, informed decisions about when and where to grit roads.

The stations include solar-powered cameras that relay live images of road conditions to the county council’s website, where they are viewed hundreds of thousands of times each winter to help people plan their journeys.

Now, the council is building on a working relationship of more than 20 years with Vaisala, a global leader in weather, environmental, and industrial measurements, to improve routine and winter monitoring of its network of 5,800 miles of road.

North Yorkshire has this year begun using Vaisala’s artificial intelligence technology, and continues to work closely with the company as its systems and technology evolve. As a result, thorough surveys of the condition of the road network can be undertaken more quickly.

As highways officers drive the network, the video technology automatically surveys the roads and identifies defects. It processes the data within a few hours. This gives the highways team a visual snapshot of the whole network, capturing useful data about the road condition and road signs very quickly and enabling them to target resources most efficiently.

The authority is also trialling Vaisala Wx Horizon, a system that uses real-time weather information, historic weather and road condition data alongside computer modelling to help identify required winter treatments.

Finally, the authority is investigating Internet of Things sensors to supplement existing weather stations to give more accurate data at an increasing number of locations on the highways network. These sensors feedback on details such as road surface temperatures and moisture levels.

North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for highways and transportation, Cllr Keane Duncan, said: “North Yorkshire’s extensive highways network, which includes many rural roads, is vital to the everyday lives of the county’s residents, its businesses, tourism industry and wider economic prosperity.

“That’s why we have a strong track record in putting ourselves at the forefront of technological advances that enable us to make quick, well-informed decisions to help to keep our roads open and people on the move during winter weather.

“These latest developments with Vaisala continue that long-standing approach and demonstrate our commitment to ongoing improvement to enable our dedicated teams to support residents, businesses and visitors across the county.”

Jarkko Sairanen, Vaisala’s executive vice president for weather and the environment, said: “I am convinced the county and its people will benefit from the latest advances in mobile and Internet of Things technologies to help keep the road network safe and accessible, while minimising the cost and carbon footprint of efficient winter maintenance operations.”