Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said it has achieved a milestone in infrastructure asset management, recording leading performance in the Road Network Asset Condition Index (ACI), with assessment results showing that 95 percent of road network assets are classified as excellent.

The assessment showed that RTA excelled across five key areas: comprehensive asset coverage; the quantitative methodology used to calculate the ACI; the use of LiDAR, artificial intelligence and automated data extraction technologies; annual assessment of the entire road network; and integration with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). These achievements have further strengthened Dubai’s position as one of the world’s leading cities in road and infrastructure asset management.

The Road Network Asset Condition Index is an advanced quantitative tool used globally to measure the structural and operational condition of road network assets.

RTA developed the index in line with global best practices in road asset management, drawing on a benchmarking exercise involving leading international entities, including the transportation departments of California, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania and New York State; Australia’s Austroads; the Ministry of Transport of the People’s Republic of China; Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA); Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism; France’s Cerema; the Swedish Transport Administration; and other international organisations.

The benchmarking covered asset assessment methodologies, comprehensiveness of coverage, index calculation mechanisms, levels of automation, inspection technologies, inspection frequency, GIS integration and customer engagement mechanisms.

LiDAR technology provides accuracy levels of up to 95 percent compared with traditional visual assessment.