Road Asset Management

System (RAMS) for

National Highways of
India
Ministry of Roads Transport and Highways (MoRTH),
Government of India
Objectives of RAMS

Maintain existing road assets and their value by ensuring

timely, regular and adequate maintenance.

Link funding with network performance, achieve value for

money in asset management.

Ensure economic benefits to road users by a performance-

based approach to maintenance and upgrade.

Use regular condition and other data to inform decision-

making for maintenance interventions.

Source: IRC:130-2020
What is RAMS?

Road Asset Management is a systematic process of

maintaining, upgrading and operating assets,
combining engineering principles with sound
business practice and economic rationale, and
providing tools to facilitate a more organised and
flexible approach to making the decisions necessary
to achieve the public’s expectations (safety,
reliability, etc.)

In practice, an asset management system (AMS) will include all the processes,
tools, data and policies necessary for the effective management of all the assets
for which the road administration has responsibility
Source: IRC:130-2020
Primary Solution of RAMS

A RAMS shall primarily deliver these solutions:

What and How are these Best

where are the assets treatments for
assets I have? currently maximum
performing? performance?

How much will Optimum How can the

it cost to keep maintenance citizen’s
or improve scenario under queries be
condition? given budgets addressed?
Data Collection- Data is the Key

Data collection
methods
Data Collection Tools and Technology

Drone Surveys Network Survey Vehicle

AI-enabled Smartphone Applications

Manual Surveys RAMS Integrated Mobile Apps Dashcam-based Roughometers

 What kind of data is required for RAMS implementation?

Road Bridges &

Road Inventory Road Condition Traffic
Geometry Culverts
• Roadside Assets • Pavement Strength • Horizontal Curvature • AADT (motorised & • Bridge Inventory
• Pavement Inventory • Road Roughness • Vertical curve non-motorised) and Condition
• Pavement Markings • Rutting • Rise and Fall • CVPD • Culvert Inventory
• Pavement Core • Potholes • Superelevation • Peak and off-peak and Condition
Details • Cracking • Gradient periods • Tunnel Inventory
• Drainage • Cracked Slabs • Cross Slope • Axle-Load data and Condition
• Slab Failures • Speed Flow data

Maintenance
Road Safety Finance Secondary
History
• Blackspot Data • Last Maintenance • Annual Allocated • Road Class
• Road Crash Data Type, Year and Budget Details • Organisation Details
• Crash Site Location • Unit Maintenance • Treatment Details
Environment Data • Last Reconstruction Cost • Treatment
• Road Safety Policies Details • Unit Road User Cost Triggering Criteria
and Regulations • Contractor Details • KPIs
Current RAMS Overview
Background
 MORT&H and NHAI have developed web-based Road Asset Management
System (RAMS) between 2014 and 2017 for managing and maintaining the
entire National Highways under World Bank funded Project (WBTA-12).
 It was envisaged to establish a dedicated RAMS unit (RAMS Cell) for
continual operation and maintenance of RAMS and to help NHAI, MORT&H
and NHIDCL in extracting and using data from RAMS.
 RAMS Unit (Cell) has been established on full-time basis in NHAI to bring all
initiatives related to data collection, data management, and information
sharing on National Highways under one umbrella including annual data
collection by NH Divisions of State PWDs, Concessionaries, Contractors and
Consultants.
Current RAMS Overview
Scope of RAMS Cell

 The main objective of the assignment is to operate, maintain,

update and upgrade RAMS system developed for all National
Highways in India.
 The broad scope of services under the Project are
• Data Collection Management
• Data Processing and Management
• RAMS Operation
• Network Planning
• RAMS Improvements and Maintenance Support
• RAMS Helpdesk
• Liaison with Other Stakeholders
Current RAMS Overview
Modules of Existing RAMS Location
Reference
Management
System
Toll Road
Information Information
System System

Traffic Geographical
Information Information
System RAMS System

Modules
Environmental Pavement
Information Management
System System

Accident Bridge
Information Information
System System
Glimpses of Current RAMS
Stretch-wise Distress Score Report

Stretch-wise Roughness Score Report

Glimpses of Current RAMS
NH-Wise Breakup of Road Quality & Intervention (Without Financial Constraints)

NH-Wise Summary of Cost of Interventions (Without Financial Constraints)

NH-Wise Summary of Length of Interventions (Without Financial Constraints)

Glimpses of Current RAMS
Road Quality Parameter Weightage Within Distress Roughness Ranges &
Weightage Parameters Rating

Budget Penalty for Old Adjustment of Cost for Unit Cost of Maintenance
Data Terrain Intervention
Bottlenecks of Current RAMS
 Outdated web-based technology with no GIS capabilities compared to modern cloud-based and cloud-native RAMS
systems.
 Inability to update data in real-time.
 Extensive manual interference before NSV survey data submission.
 High possibility of data manipulation and little means to validate submitted data
 Inflexibility towards other data collection means, such as drone surveys, LiDAR, AI-enabled Smartphone apps,
crowdsourcing, external databanks like automobile industries, cab service industries, weather and disaster databanks,
etc.
 Inability to manage and analyse video/imagery data using AI and ML tools
 Inaccurate, inflexible and uncalibrated pavement deterioration models
 Unavailability of pavement deterioration models for rigid pavements
 Inability to integrate with other Systems, such as iRAD and IBMS
 A multi-criteria decision tool is unavailable to incorporate decarbonisation, road safety, etc., along with economic
indicators for a holistic approach.
 No engagement with the major stakeholders, the road users, through mobile apps, public portals, or any other means.
 No controlled access to contractors to submit their work progress report and raise requests for payments
 Lacks major modules within RAMS to future proof the monitoring, maintenance and management of road assets, such
as Road Safety Management Module, Whole life cost analysis module for long-term planning, Climate Resilience and
Disaster management module, Data workbench to review, validate and approve submitted data, AI and ML capabilities
and in-built Pavement performance modelling.
State-of-the-art RAMS
for MoRTH
Features of State-of-the-art RAMS
Modern computerised RAMS systems provide:
 Cloud-native, scalable, high-performance solution
 Integrated AI and ML tools for data extraction and
analysis
 Data-driven decision-making
 Integration with other systems, such as iRAD,
IBMS, etc.
 Single source of truth for asset inventory and
condition data - used by senior management,
central office, field offices, contractors
 Public engagement
 Future proofing:
• Climate resilience for infrastructure
• Carbon emissions & savings on projects
• Integrating data from new sources – e.g. Toll Plazas, Automobile Industries,
Autonomous vehicles, ADAS, crowdsourcing, etc.
Modules Required in State-of-the-art RAMS

Road Maintenance Roles, Users and

AI-enabled Web-GIS Performance
Work and Inspection Multi-organisation
User Interface Monitoring System
Management System Management

Whole Life Cost Integrated Mobile

Road Assets and Road Safety
Analysis (WLCA) Applications for
Network Register Management System
Module Citizens and Engineers

Integration with
Reporting and
Data Workbench external Life Cycle Road Works Permit
Dashboards
Module Cost Analysis (LCCA) Management System
Management Module
Tools

Integration with
Climate Resilience and
In-built Pavement Traffic Management Indian Bridge
Disaster Information
Management System System Management System
Management System
(IBMS)
State-of-the-art RAMS: Web-GIS User Interface
 Web-GIS based user interface for RAMS will provide better visualisation of the inventory
and condition data and understanding of geographic conditions.
 The interface will have provisions for both 2D and 3D maps to visualise the road network
State-of-the-art RAMS: AI-enabled User Interface
 RAMS will be integrated with AI and ML algorithms to extract data from Video and
Imagery data.
 The RAMS system will have provisions for the Videography survey imagery feature
integrated with GIS interface.
 Video processing module, encoding chainages from GPS recordings, will have the
capability to process and analyse the high-quality video footage received from Survey
Vehicles and drones.

AI-enabled Video processing to extract

Survey imagery pane for visualizing
road condition and inventory data
videography data from NSV for validation
State-of-the-art RAMS: 3D View User Interface

 RAMS will allow for the storing, managing and viewing of both 2D and 3D
CAD files in common CAD formats such as .dwg, .dxf, and the BIM .ifc
format.
 3D viewing/interaction capabilities include object measurements, ‘explode’
objects, toggle layers.
State-of-the-art RAMS: Road Assets and Network Register
 RAMS needs to store and manage asset inventory, condition data, videography and
Imagery data from NSV, Drone surveys, LiDAR, Smartphones, satellite imagery, etc.
 Based on the user’s requirements, the data can be represented in various configurable
formats, such as on maps, using charts and tables.
 This feature supports the user in accessing all the assets owned, their location, current
condition and jurisdiction-related details at once.
State-of-the-art RAMS: Road Assets and Network Register

Road inventory data for the selected section

Traffic count data for selected road section

Core Road Network

State-of-the-art RAMS: Road Assets and Network Register

Road condition data for the selected section

Core road network Roughness data for the selected section

State-of-the-art RAMS: Integration with IBMS
 Bridges and Culverts are essential nodal
points of any road network.
 Integrating road and bridge management
allows for a holistic view of transportation
infrastructure
 With a unified approach, funding can be
allocated based on a comprehensive
assessment of road and bridge needs,
ensuring balanced investment across the
entire transportation network.
 Integrated management assists in
developing efficient emergency
response plans, considering both
road and bridge vulnerabilities,
and facilitating timely actions
during crises.
State-of-the-art RAMS: In-built Pavement Management
System
Configurable Pavement Deterioration Models
within RAMS decision-making tool for road
network

Forward works Programme for road network

using RAMS decision-making tool
State-of-the-art RAMS: Whole Life Cost Analysis (WLCA)

WLCA is used to conduct long-term maintenance and economic analysis for road
sections to consider the impact during their design life
 State-of-the-art RAMS: Integration with HDM-4

Create fully configured road network

HDM-4 Outputs Exported back to RAMS
input files for HDM-4 within RAMS
and Integrated with GIS Interface
through ‘Export to HDM4’ feature
State-of-the-art RAMS: Engineers’ Mobile App

Engineers’ mobile app supports field inspections and surveys

conducted by engineers or executive officials for estimation of road
works or monitoring of ongoing works and Police Officers for road
crashes
State-of-the-art RAMS: Public Mobile App

Interface of Mobile app for road users fully integrated with RAMS to raise
complaints or report road defects, potholes, etc.

Every Smartphone User is Real-time Data Source to achieve

‘Pothole Free Highways’
State-of-the-art RAMS: Public Information Portal

Road Assets Information Portal for Citizens

State-of-the-art RAMS: Climate Resilience Module

Flood Prone area

Integration of historical or predicted disaster data

with road network to assess disaster risk factor

Bring third-party, including National and State DMAs, disaster data (historical or
predicted), weather data, etc. to superimpose on road network and assets to compute
disaster risk factor
State-of-the-art RAMS: Climate Resilience Module

Assessment of Flood Risk Factors Based on Exposure and Impact

State-of-the-art RAMS: Reporting and Dashboards

Prepare Customized Reports and

manage customized live
Dashboards within RAMS
State-of-the-art RAMS: Roles, Users and Organisation
Management

 Define different Roles for different

users;
 Manage their access to RAMS and;
 Define hierarchy and access
control for multi-organizations,
including MoRTH, NHAI, NHIDCL,
BRO, PWDs, Contractors, etc.
 Summary and Conclusions
Cloud Native, AI-enabled GIS-based modern Road Asset Management System for National
Highways of India shall comply to

Future-proof Cloud-based Solution

Incorporated Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

tools

Integration with HDM-4, Indian Bridge Management System,

iRAD and other systems

Advanced monitoring of asset performance and maintenance

using in-built analytical and modelling tools

Data and criteria-driven decision-making Effective and Efficient RAMS:

• Consistent Data Collection Process
Incorporating Decarbonization and Safety into decision- • Contemporary Technology and
making Software
• Continuous Personnel Training and
Disaster risk management including climate change Development
Thank You