Abstract Manager

The City of Markham, in collaboration with CITYROVER, has developed a unique, end-to-end inspection, surveying, maintenance, and pavement lifecycle management framework that leverages advanced technology and artificial intelligence.

The City of Markham is responsible for managing a large and diverse road network while balancing constrained budgets, limited staffing capacity, and growing expectations for safety, service reliability and fiscal responsibility. Serving approximately 362,000 residents and maintaining more than 2,200 lane-kilometres of paved roads, the City requires current and accurate information to support maintenance, preservation, and capital investment decisions across the network.

In this session, the City of Markham will demonstrate an innovative road management framework  developed around a multi-year initiative that leverages a fleet of municipal vehicles equipped with AI powered cameras. Initially deployed to provide alerts about pavement hazards such as potholes and sunken manholes, the technology has automated key elements of the inspection program, and enabled emergency maintenance crews to respond faster and accomplish more with existing resources.

Over the past few years, the technology has advanced substantially. It now continuously assembles an image-based digital twin of the road network, frequently updates pavement condition data using both ASTM D6433 and PASER-based standards, and incorporates sensor-based road roughness assessments. The breadth and depth of data collected now support a comprehensive portfolio of road management and pavement lifecycle programs.

As an early adopter of the technology, the City has developed programs which leverage this data to support compliance with maintenance standards and asset management standards.

In this presentation, the City will demonstrate how road inspection, surveying, maintenance, and rehabilitation programs - representing millions of dollars in annual investment - can be integrated into a centralized, continuously updated ground-truth system. By leveraging existing vehicles and AI, the City is able to rapidly identify and resolve hazards, continuously measure pavement condition, better allocate funding, prioritize projects, and more effectively direct program teams.

This innovative approach was recognized with the International Road Federation 2025 Global Road Achievement Award in the Asset Preservation & Maintenance Management category, highlighting it as a notable advancement in road management practices.

The presentation will share practical lessons learned and implementation insights from the City’s experience that are transferable to other municipalities and road authorities seeking to improve operational efficiency and pavement lifecycle outcomes through integrated road management programs. The City will be joined by CITYROVER, which will provide a technology overview and technical details of the underlying platform.