Abstract Manager

Proactive asset repairs are essential to improving customer service, prolonging the life cycle of transportation assets, and preventing damage caused by potholes. 

On an annual basis, the Infrastructure Maintenance section within the City of Edmonton receives over 20,000 311 notifications, with 45% of them being related to asphalt road maintenance (potholes). The demand for repairs extends beyond 311 notifications, as there are others that go unreported. Understanding the high volume of potholes needing to be repaired, and limited budget available, the City of Edmonton required a prioritization visualization tool that would enable it to better target its repairs, and anticipate where repairs will be needed; while ensuring they were efficient and impactful. This included finding a way to prioritize and rank pothole notifications, anticipate/recognize duplicate notifications, consider staffing and equipment capacities, incorporate estimated resolution dates and visualize data. 

In 2023, REPAIR, an asset prioritization tool was developed. It is an interactive dashboard that incorporates data from 311 notifications, as well as internally identified issues. The tool presents a unified, geographic view of the data, and also uses artificial intelligence algorithms to support proactive detection of potholes and targeted repairs. 

This tool has:

• Increased customer service and resident safety by identifying areas of increasing notifications, to allow for proactive inspections before the damage becomes substantial. 

• Allowed for the continual monitoring of roads, sidewalks and open space structure assets and adapted to any changing conditions.

• Allowed for scheduling based on priority, volume and concentration of repair.

• Identified duplicate notifications, reducing the chances of inspection staff making multiple visits to the same issue. 

• Extended the life cycle and quality of a variety of road and open space assets through early interventions rather than large scale repairs. 

In 2024, the tool will be expanded upon to include additional program areas and asset types within the Infrastructure Maintenance section and incorporate route optimization.