We are delighted that Mobility by Colas’ innovative ANAIS digital road inspection service is now being launched in the Midlands, following several months of detailed collaboration with our civil engineering specialists.
As part of their multi-year motorway maintenance and response contract for National Highways’ Area 9, Colas Ltd, a subsidiary of Colas in the United Kingdom, will utilise the ANAIS service for a trial period of one year across the network of motorways and trunk roads around Birmingham.
ANAIS uses traditional road monitoring methods and enhances them with digital technology to identify potentially hazardous zones based on onboard driving data. After analysing the data, recommendations are made to infrastructure managers on how to improve these zones and increase road safety through continuous monitoring. The system has been deployed on a range of highways networks across France and the UK since 2018, seeing it receive a French Interministerial Delegation for Road Safety ‘Road Safety Innovation’ award in 2019.
Commenting on the roll-out of ANAIS in the Midlands, Paul Elliott, National Highways’ Head of Service Delivery for the Midlands, said in a recent statement: “We are always keen to find new ways to improve safety on our roads. Using this new source of data to support our current processes could improve our ability to target areas in need of maintenance, making journeys safer and smoother. As part of our Digital Roads project, we are embracing new ideas and technologies, and we look forward to seeing the results of this trial as well as the benefits it could bring.”
Waterman’s highways team has been collaborating with Colas for several months on the initiative, with our specialists helping contextualize the data included within the reports. Taking into account the key attributes of the various road types across the national highways network, including vehicle speed, road markings, direction of driving, we helped ensure the automatic recommendations made by ANAIS are tailored to suit the specific requirements of British highways.
Waterman’s National Framework Director, Amrit Ghose, said: “I am delighted to see the ANAIS system being adopted by National Highways in the Midlands following our close collaboration with Colas. This exciting initiative will help improve highway safety across this key network, ensuring the area’s busy roads continue to support the economic and social prosperity of the region as efficiently as possible.”
