Maryland Highway Agency Uses High-Tech Vehicle To Snoop For Pavement Problems

George Foster and Terry Weller know the Maryland state roads inch by inch, rut by rut, frost heave by frost heave.

Each year, the two employees of the State Highway Administration drive thousands of miles in a million-dollar vehicle that looks like a big, orange ambulance. The vehicle, called an “Automated Road Analyzer,” or ARAN for short, is stuffed with high-definition cameras, positioning systems and measuring devices.

Pavement has no privacy from their relentless scrutiny. Foster and Weller take the ARAN for exactly the same drives every year. When they return, they hand over hard drives. The data, about a gigabyte per mile, will reveal detailed images of the roads’ bumps and grooves, along with electronic measurements of every flaw. 
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