The study examines how regularly updated maps showing the movement of the land can be used by road operators to improve their management of the road network. Planetek Italia, a small Italian company offering EO services, has developed a service called Rheticus that provides regularly updated, country wide maps of ground movements based on from Sentinel-1. The technique, known as InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) uses several observations of the ground at intervals of days, weeks and months to detect vertical movements of a few millimetres which have occurred between the observations.
The design and construction of road networks is affected by underlying land conditions. Italy is a geologically young country that is particularly susceptible to landslides and ground movements which puts its road network at risk. The Italian state road agency Azienda Nazionale Autonoma delle Strade (ANAS) uses Rheticus to identify where ground movement has taken or is taking place. Historically, measuring vertical ground movement in particular has been difficult and costly. Rheticus allows ANAS planners and engineers to have a countrywide view of ground movement and the service can also monitor roads infrastructure such as tunnels and bridges.
The study finds that the highly accurate measurements of ground movement allow road planners to identify the risk of ground instability earlier in projects so saving money and reducing project delays and road closures. The ground information maps support compliance with regulations and stimulate innovation in road management and planning. The authors find the total benefits to be between EUR 5.6m and 13.6m per annum.
Environmental benefits – maps showing ground movement may help to deliver more efficient highways management could be considered to have a small consequential impact on the environment.
Regulatory benefits – the study found a number of areas where knowledge of ground movement can lead to better regulation in terms of tracking more precise measurements over time. Consequential damage from construction can also be quantified more easily for any litigation.
Innovation and enterprise benefits – the authors find the benefit to be quite significant for the service provider Planetek as well as for the use of ground movement surveys throughout ANAS bringing improved business processes.
Scientific and technological benefits – the authors consider that there is a benefit of contribution to research into new applications and processes linked to highways management that comes from the service.
Societal benefits – aside from those economic benefits assessed in the study an overall benefit comes from improvements in the use of public infrastructure.
The study presents the following quantifiable impacts:
The primary user ANAS’s total economic benefits were found to be EUR 3.8 – EUR 8.6m pa – ANAS use ground the movement maps to assess risk and adapt road designs to reduce subsequent problems and also to monitor the site during construction to identify potential difficulties.
For the construction industry and highway operators (secondary beneficiaries), that use the service to monitor the impact of engineering works on the ground stability and if any movement is triggered by their activity, the overall benefits were found to be EUR 1m – EUR 2m pa.
For citizens and society, the total opportunity benefits due to the reduced loss-of-use associated with delays to projects (reduced delays by the use of ground movement monitoring maps) was found to be EUR 0.8m – EUR 3m pa.
The total estimated economic benefits along the value chain were found to be EUR 5.6m – EUR 13.6m pa.
Find this article at:
https://earsc.org/sebs/highways-management-in-italy/
This case study, undertaken by the European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC), is one in a series of case studies from the Sentinel Economic Benefits Study (SEBS) – a large study to show how Earth Observation (EO) derived products and services, based on data generated by one or more Sentinel satellites, deliver value to society and citizens.