WEST virginia legislature

2023 regular session

Committee Substitute

for

House Bill 3214

By Delegates Capito, Riley, Williams, Young, Storch and Jennings

[Introduced February 02, 2023; Referred to the Committee on Technology and Infrastructure]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §17-2A-25, relating to creation of the "Road Optimization and Assessment Data (R.O.A.D.) Pilot Program"; legislative findings and purpose; Commissioner of Highways to promulgate rules; and specifics to be contained in rules to determine how best to maintain roads and highways.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 2A. WEST VIRGINIA COMMISSIONER OF HIGHWAYS.

§17-2A-25. Road optimization and assessment data (R.O.A.D.) pilot program; legislative findings and purposes.

(a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that:

(1) Properly maintained roads and highways are important to the economic and industrial growth and development and well-being of the state and to the health, education, welfare, and prosperity of its citizens;

(2) Roads and highways of the state that are not well maintained because of potholes, patching, cracking, road shoulder issues, canopy brush, and drainage issues, do not contribute to the health, education, welfare, and prosperity of its citizens of this state;

(3) Data is and has been collected by the West Virginia Division of Highways for purposes of an overall assessment and evaluation of road maintenance;

(4) The purpose of this section is to create a pilot program to study alternative advanced methods of assessing the conditions of the roads and highways and methods of financing road and highway maintenance with respect to the issues stated in this section.

(b) The Legislature declares that a pilot program designated the "Road Optimization and Assessment Data Road Pilot Program" is hereby created.

(c) The Commissioner of Highways shall implement a pilot program concerning the collection of data and the overall assessment of the conditions of the paved roads and highways of the state and the repairs and maintenance required to develop the pilot program.  The pilot program will:

(1) To the extent not already used, incorporate Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to assess the roads, or any other advanced technologies.

(2) Include a combination of urban and rural roads, using Monongalia and Preston Counties as the test areas for this program, with all paved roads in these counties being driven and assessed in conjunction with the program.

(3) Use existing assessments in the pilot counties to begin to teach the program.

(4) Use GPS positioning and Geotagged positioning including high accuracy precision GPS to indicate road geometry and curvature.

(5) Use Laser measuring systems (including video) that are capable of longitudinal profiling, identifying and measuring cracks, pavement distress, including potholes, patching, cracking, road shoulder issues, canopy brush, and drainage issues.

(6) Use videos of the roads allowing pavement distress for imagery as well as canopy brush, drainage documentation and the use of a Reflectometer system to check the reflectivity of  painted lines.

(7) Utilize post data capture processing to create a baseline for road condition assessment based on Division of Highways standards and the ASTM D6433-11 Standard Practice for Roads and Parking Lots Pavement Condition Index Surveys.

(8) Provide for the data capturing and processing to be performed at intervals determined by the Commissioner to adequately collect and assess the data for maintenance purposes: Provided, That data capturing and processing shall occur at least twice during the pilot project. The data shall also compare the changes in road conditions such as deterioration of roads from previous condition, average daily traffic, and heavy truck traffic if such information is available.  The term of this pilot program shall be five years.

(9) Incorporate the additional data gathered within the Division of Highways’ existing pavement management system, or an alternative machine learning artificial intelligence system, and such that it can improve predictive analysis of roads and highways, and guide in the performance of preventive maintenance for the roads and highways, rather than reactive maintenance.

(d)  At the conclusion of year two, year four, and the termination of the pilot program, the Division of Highways shall report to the Joint Legislative Oversight Commission on Department of Transportation Accountability, which report will include identification of the technologies used and any improvements in road maintenance and pavement management processes that may be realized.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create the "Road Optimization and Assessment Data (R.O.A.D.) Pilot Program" to collect data to best determine how to maintain roads and highways.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.