R.V.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
(Autonomous Institution Affiliated to VTU, Belgaum)
RV Vidyaniketan post, Mysore road
BENGALURU – 560059

SELF STUDY ASSIGNMENT

"Smart Highways using Artificial Intelligence"

As per the requirement for the course

"HIGHWAY ENGINEERING" (16CV54)

Submitted by
Nischal M H 1RV17CV071
Yashas V 1RV17CV123

V Semester B Section

Submitted to
Sunil S
Assistant Professor
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
R.V. COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, BANGALORE-560059
(Autonomous Institution Affiliated to VTU, Belgaum)
 1. Introduction: What are Smart Highways?
Highways play a vital role in connectivity for a region, everything we consume is directly or
indirectly dependent on the quality and management of our highways. Highways, apart from
having to play a role in connectivity, they also have a crucial role in providing goods and
services for a region, and directly have a bearing on the economics of a region. With every
other aspect of engineering, moving towards an inter-disciplinary area, the highway planning
and management is also evolving by using IoT (Internet of Things), AI (Artificial Intelligence)
in making Highways safer and durable for longer life spans. Smart highway or smart roadways
are terms for a number of different ways technologies are incorporated into roads, for
improving the operation of connected and autonomous vehicles for traffic lights and street
lighting, and for monitoring the condition of the road, traffic levels and the speed of vehicles.
Main Aspects of Smart Highways

• Aid Autonomous Vehicles

Today’s GPS isn’t accurate enough to direct a vehicle where to position itself exactly. On the
road, a single inch could be the difference between staying in your lane or driving head-first
into traffic. Last year, 3M’s Connected Road group launched a pilot, smart road program that
hopes to solve this problem. Spanning three miles of a roadway, their “smart pavement”
featured special paint markings and reflective signs designed to be picked up by
autonomous cars ’sensors. This smart road innovation means that drivers and autonomous
cars no longer have to rely solely on location tech or cameras.

• Generate Electricity
China seems to be ahead of the curve when it comes to autonomous driving and smart road
innovations. No longer just thinking of safety, Qilu Transportation Development Group Co.
envisions an “intelligent highway” that boasts mapping sensors, solar panels, and electric-
battery rechargers. The top layer of this smart road innovation also contains recharging wires
and sensors that monitor temperature, traffic flow, and weight load.

• Increase Safety
In Colorado, the first smart road innovation in the US has started its public test run. With the
aim of enhancing road security, these smart highways are lined with sensors that alert
motorists about traffic jams and can automatically call for help when accidents happen.
Moreover, the road surface contains fiber-optic cables that act as pressure sensors, which
work to detect highway wear and tear. Couple that with existing technology such as fleet
monitoring and truck tracking, and we’re well on our way to much safer thoroughfares.

• Cut Commutes
Smart tech is helping to cut down long commutes and save resources by determining the
length of the trip, where the commute starts and ends, and who is doing it. Planners leverage
this data and check for driving alternatives, which could mean a wealth of time and resources
saved for commuters.
 2. International Scenario
Smart Highway market worldwide is projected to grow by US$26.5 Billion, driven by a
compounded growth of 18%. Intelligent Transportation Management, one of the segments
analyzed and sized in this study, displays the potential to grow at over 19.4%. The shifting
dynamics supporting this growth makes it critical for businesses in this space to keep abreast
of the changing pulse of the market. Poised to reach over US$20.5 Billion by the year 2025,
Intelligent Transportation Management will bring in healthy gains adding significant
momentum to global growth. Representing the developed world, the United States will
maintain a 19.4% growth momentum. Within Europe, which continues to remain an
important element in the world economy, Germany will add over US$994.4 Million to the
region's size and clout in the next 5 to 6 years. Over US$1.9 Billion worth of projected demand
in the region will come from other emerging Eastern European markets. In Japan, Intelligent
Transportation Management will reach a market size of US$1.6 Billion by the close of the
analysis period. As the world's second largest economy and the new game changer in global
markets, China exhibits the potential to grow at 17.5% over the next couple of years and add
approximately US$4.6 Billion in terms of addressable opportunity for the picking by aspiring
businesses and their astute leaders. Several macroeconomic factors and internal market
forces will shape growth and development of demand patterns in emerging countries in Asia-
Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East. All research viewpoints presented are based on
validated engagements from influencers in the market, whose opinions supersede all other
research methodologies.

3. Case Study : Eastern Peripheral Expressway

It is India’s first smart and green highway. The Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE), which
consumed 5 lakh tonne of cement and 1 lakh tonne of steel, is going to be completed in a
record time of about 500 days against a target of 910 days. The 135 km six lane access-
controlled expressway, built at a cost of nearly Rs 11,000 crore will help decongest the
national capital along with the first phase of Delhi-Meerut Expressway. The cost of
construction alone was Rs 4,420 crore. The EPE is equipped with smart and intelligent
highway traffic management system (HTMS) and video incident detection system (VIDS)
besides a closed tolling system in which the collections will be made only on the distance
travelled and not on the entire length and would be lit with solar lights. Apart from Highway
Traffic Management System (HTMS) that includes Variable Message Signs (VMS) CCTV, Video
Incident Detection System (VIDS), Warning Devices, Over Speed Checking System, Weigh-in-
Motion, Pavement Management. Systems and Fiber Optic Network, it will have real time
incident management. The expressway will divert an estimated 2 lakh vehicles passing
through the national capital daily to this bypass.
 Fig 1: Plan of the Eastern Peripheral Expressway.
Smart Initiatives adopted in the Project:
• 100% Access Controlled
• Unique Weigh in Motion (WIM)
• Electronic Closed Tolling system
• Multiple Entry and Exit points
• HTMS (Highway Traffic Management System)
• Over-speed Checking System
This will help in decongestant Delhi and its adjoining areas as no commercial vehicles can
enter Delhi. This is the first expressway in the country with solar power for lighting on the
entire expressway. There are 8 solar power plants on this expressway having a capacity of
4000- kilo watt (4 MW). For plantation, drip irrigation has been used in the central median as
well as for avenue plantation. The interchanges have been developed architecturally with
beautiful plantation merged with fountains and 28 fountains have been installed. About 1.5
crore cum fly ash has been used in the project and about 20,000 trucks of earth were carried
out in a single day to expedite project.

Fig.2: The Eastern Peripheral Expressway powered by stored solar energy, via LEDs.
 4. Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Smart Highways
Smart Highways generate large amounts of data, this when analysed can be of great
importance in optimizing a highway network of a region. Artificial Intelligence offers its help
in analysing this large quantity of data, and give both short term and long term solutions.
Thus, using AI highways can be perceived has data points, and its behaviour can be analysed
for different solutions using multiple constraints at once. This yields real time data, for
maintenance of working highways, and also long term consolidated data for planning of
future highways.
Applications

• AI for optimizing road maintenance work

Every year approximately 80,000 kilometers of roads are analysed in Sweden. Ramboll has
developed a 3D laser scanner in collaboration with the State Research Institute in Lithuania
(KTTI), which makes it possible to scan roads with high resolution while driving at 90 km/h.
The new equipment quickly and efficiently collects large amounts of data and is a major step
forward when it comes to big data analysis and AI. The new technology creates possibilities
to work with road safety and sustainability in a cost-efficient manner. The rapid collection of
data combined with data analytics enables to assess the state of the road network and
optimise the maintenance regime. The advantages include the possibility to frequently collect
data that can be used for a variety of purposes, both on road network level and object level.
The system can inform asset management systems for the whole of the region. Analysing the
vast amount of data is the real challenge, but great progress in machine learning capabilities
is making this task easier. Even though the machine is recording data more accurately than a
human, it cannot interpret the data from the beginning. We must teach the program to
discern and interpret factors like surface effects, cracks and roughness. In can be done by
feeding the algorithm with data samples, which ensures that the system provides better and
better insights on the true conditions of the roads. Visual subjectivity will be replaced by
objective machine interpretation and reduce human errors.

Fig.1 3D Scanner enabled vehicle being used for monthly maintenance.

 • AI in Highway Location and Alignment Optimization

Comprehensive methods for searching, evaluating, and optimizing highway location and
alignments using genetic algorithms (GAs), a powerful Artificial Intelligence (AI) technique. It
presents a two-level programming structure to deal with the effects of varying highway
location on traffic level changes in surrounding road networks within the highway location
search and alignment optimization process. In addition, methods can also evaluate
environmental impacts as well as all relevant highway costs associated with its construction,
operation, and maintenance. Various search methods can be developed considering relevant
cost functions, constraints, computational efficiency, and solution quality issues arising from
optimizing the highway alignment optimization (HAO) problem. It can also focus on
applications of a special-purpose GA in the HAO problem where numerous highway
alignments are generated and evaluated, and finally the best ones are selected based on
costs, traffic impacts, safety, energy, and environmental consideration.

5. Conclusion

Roads can no longer just be used to travel from one place to the other. As we have discussed
above the many features of smart highways, it’s high time we start implementing the concept
of smart highways, as they make the day to day activities easier and safer. Adopting artificial
intelligence and bid data management in highway construction, maintenance and
management helps optimize the industry and will contribute to economic success and will
contribute in making human travel safer and smoother.

6. References

1. Min-Wook Kang and Paul Schonfeld (2017) , Applications of Genetic Algorithms

in Searching, Evaluating, and Optimizing Highway Location and Alignments.

2. Manish Kumar et.al (2017), Advanced Technology of Smart Road Construction.

3. George Justin Sebastin et.al (2016), Smart Highways- an Innovation towards
mobility.
4. Anshu Adwani and Kirti et.al (2015), Smart Highway Systems for Future Cities.

5. Smart Transport Alliance (2015), Smart Roads: A Vision, Discussion Paper.

6. MORTH (2016), Decongesting Delhi: Key Initiatives