Asset Management for Highway Signage

ODOT District 8 is completing an upgrade of all traffic signs on state, US, and interstate routes throughout the district as part of their asset management program. Crawford, Murphy & Tilly (CMT) completed the field data collection, evaluation, and construction documents for the replacement of all signs within Greene County.

CMT’s approach included the use of GIS technology to inventory the sign assets, including ESRI ArcMap® and ArcServer® technology to collect and manage pertinent data related to each sign, support and foundation. ArcCollector® software was used to collect data and populate the geodatabase in real time, which allowed field crews, office staff and ODOT personnel to monitor progress and answer design questions in an efficient manner. Web mapping technology was used to flag potential questions for ODOT, and to allow the design team to view the data on each sign, photos, structural evaluation and other pertinent information so that decisions could be made quickly. The project included ground-, beam-, cantilever-, and truss-mounted signs throughout the district and resulted in a set of construction documents consisting of estimated quantities, sign elevation views and design of sign dimensions for large extrusheet signs. We also developed VBA Macros in Excel® to automate the process of converting the GIS field data to estimated quantity sheets and formatting the sheets per ODOT standards. The final product will eventually be incorporated into ODOT’s Transformation Information Management System (TIMS) application.