Alberta Transportation is responsible for managing the construction, maintenance and operation activities on approximately 25,000 kilometres of paved highways. On an annual basis over 3 million tonnes of Asphalt Concrete Pavement (ACP) and 4 million tonnes of Granular Base Course (GBC) aggregates are weighed and hauled for highway construction and rehabilitation activities. The construction process is 100% out-sourced with engineering consultants undertaking the design and contract administration duties while the construction activities are awarded to contractors based upon low bid tender. This paper describes how modern information and communication technologies were used to develop the Automated Truck Haul (ATH) system and the results obtained from a highway paving project where the system was piloted. The ATH system consists of a scale-mounted computer that is used to electronically capture the ACP load data and transmit that data via satellite to a centrally located server. The same data is also transmitted to a GPS equipped PDA computer at the paving site where the road checker automatically captures the time and location of unloading. The unload data is then transmitted to the central server in "near realtime" conditions. Through an internet connection the data is accessible to the project consultant, contractor and the department's regional staff. For the covering abstract of this conference see ITRD number E211395.
Abstract