ReportWire

Tag: federal highway administration

  • Blyncsy Releases Nationwide Map of U.S. Roadway Conditions and Assets

    Blyncsy Releases Nationwide Map of U.S. Roadway Conditions and Assets


    SALT LAKE CITY, June 17, 2024 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Blyncsy, a Bentley Systems company, has released a public map of roadway conditions and assets in small, medium and large cities and for state department of transportation-maintained roads in all 50 states. These detections were performed by Blyncsy’s AI-powered computer vision models on crowdsourced imagery captured passively from over 800,000 vehicles already on the road.  

    This public map identifies the ten most requested issues that local and state departments of transportation are facing today: guardrail inventory and damage assessment, road sign inventory and MUTCD code classification, streetlight outage, road debris, vegetation encroachment, pothole detection, impact attenuator inventory and crosswalk detection.  

    Transportation agency officials can now freely utilize this map to examine sample detections in their region and compare Blyncsy detections to their internal data while providing additional data to improve safety and efficiency. 

    Blyncsy leverages the power of artificial intelligence and crowdsourced visual imagery to provide automated roadway condition and asset inventory assessments. This technology collects street-level imagery and assesses the condition of assets in the images in as little as 60 seconds of a vehicle passing. Blyncsy uses AI to detect and assess the condition of roadway features such as paint-line visibility, allowing local and state governments to access the data needed for roadway striping operations and federal reporting requirements. This technology reduces the costs and burdens for roadway maintenance activities by over 90% and supports a safer environment for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians, as well as the ever-growing population of autonomous vehicles relying on visual input data to safely navigate streets and highways.  

    “When it comes to safety and equity, we decided it was time to democratize our data,” said Mark Pittman, Blyncsy CEO and Bentley’s Director of Transportation AI. “We want to ensure that as many transportation agencies as possible can benefit from our technology, whether they are a customer or not. We hope that anyone viewing this map is able to use the information to improve safety, reduce operational costs, and create a more equitable road network in their area.” 

    About Blyncsy 

    Blyncsy is the industry leader in providing intelligent roadway insights, automated asset management and a near real-time status of road infrastructure to local governments and state departments of transportation. Blyncsy is the only company that utilizes crowd-sourced imagery from over 800,000 vehicles already on the roads, machine learning and artificial intelligence to make roadways smarter, safer, more equitable and more efficient. Blyncsy provides organizations and Departments of Transportation with the data they need to make better decisions when it comes to traffic, safety, and health. Clients include Hawaii Department of Transportation, North Central Texas Council of Governments, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, City of Plano Texas, and many others. Blyncsy is part of Bentley Systems, Inc. 

    Source: Blyncsy, Inc.

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  • Beltway in the dark: More than 300 streetlights out along the busy highway – WTOP News

    Beltway in the dark: More than 300 streetlights out along the busy highway – WTOP News

    A drive along the Capital Beltway showed almost 20% of streetlights were not working. A Maryland highway official said that while lighting is essential, one big problem remains.

    WTOP drove along Interstate 95’s Outer Loop earlier this week and found that it appears that more than 18% of the road’s streetlights are not turning on at night.
    (WTOP/Mike Murillo)

    WTOP/Mike Murillo

    In an email to WTOP, MDOT SHA spokesperson Shanteé Felix said, “In the month of March, we had 90% of the highway lighting systems operational on highways in Montgomery and Prince George’s [counties].”
    (WTOP/Mike Murillo)

    WTOP/Mike Murillo

    In all, WTOP tallied at least 300 streetlights that were dark on both sides of the Beltway that were visible from the Outer Loop.
    (WTOP/Mike Murillo)

    WTOP/Mike Murillo

    In early April, a WTOP staffer noticed an unusual number of streetlights were out along the Beltway in Maryland, with more than 60 spotted between Interstate 95 and the exit to Connecticut Avenue. This left large sections of the interstate where streetlights exist, in the dark.

    Was it just one section of highway being plagued by the outages?

    On April 15, WTOP decided to drive only the Outer Loop from the Woodrow Wilson Bridge to the American Legion Bridge — and discovered the 60 downed lights just scratched the surface for the total number of lights out.

    In all, we tallied at least 300 lights that were dark on both sides of the Beltway that were visible from the Outer Loop.

    According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration, the nighttime fatality rate during crashes is three times higher than during daylight hours. The FHA also said that adequate lighting along roads can reduce crashes by 42%.

    Before the drive illustrated an issue more widespread than initially thought, the Maryland State Highway Administration issued a statement, saying that an initial report from the WTOP staffer has been passed on to its team.

    Derek Gunn, an MDOT SHA transportation engineer who oversees the area that includes the Beltway, told WTOP while lighting is seen as a “critical part of our infrastructure,” one big problem remains: the system is old.

    “It’s an aging infrastructure,” Gunn said. “It’s approaching, if not well over, 60 years old.”

    Gunn named other issues that affect lighting: “For example, rodents and vermin. You’re dealing with environmental issues. And it’s just tougher to maintain an underground system.”

    He said work continues to not only repair the downed lights, but also convert them to newer, longer lasting LED technology.

    Gunn also said the state conducts monthly surveys to see if any of the lights are down.

    “I would say that our inspectors and our crews, they’re working around the clock,” Gunn said. “They’re working day and night, to get all our lights up and running as quickly as possible.”

    After speaking with WTOP, the SHA investigated the number of lights that were out and provided a response.

    “In the month of March, we had 90% of the highway lighting systems operational on highways in Montgomery and Prince George’s [counties],” spokesperson Shanteé Felix said in an email to WTOP.

    On April 15, after the full nighttime drive along the Outer Loop, it appeared the problem was bigger than state officials realized. With 1,600 total lights, it appears that more than 18% of the road’s streetlights are not turning on at night. It’s not clear if those lights quit working since March.

    When questioned, the state provided another statement which spoke only of the initially reported outage.

    “We received a recent report the Beltway outages from [Maryland Route] 185 to MD 650 were addressed,” Felix wrote.

    This isn’t the first time WTOP has reported streetlight outages along Beltway. Just last year, a three-mile stretch between Connecticut Avenue and New Hampshire Avenue had malfunctioning lights.

    The state urges anyone who sees a streetlight out to report it on the Maryland Department of Transportation’s website.

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    Mike Murillo

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