Road agencies worldwide face a persistent challenge: maintaining expanding networks with constrained budgets, ageing assets and growing demand for safe, resilient mobility. Traditional pavement management which are often built around fragmented data sources, legacy standards and labour-intensive processes, can no longer keep pace. 

During the recent IRF Members Webinar on the Evolution of Road Pavement Management, experts from XenomatiX and the National Transport Research Organisation (NTRO) outlined how digital tools, non-contact inspection systems and unified data platforms are reshaping how national and local authorities manage their networks.  

Their presentations illustrated a trajectory that covers complexity and limited insight toward accessible, high-resolution and decision-ready intelligence. 

The Problem: Ageing networks, inconsistent measurements and fragmented systems 

Different countries and authorities still rely on traditional methods like visual surveys, manual measurements, or heavy laser equipment requiring specialist operators. These approaches may produce inconsistent outputs and high operational costs. 

Road agencies today must handle massive disconnects between methods, measurement systems, classifications and standards that make it difficult to compare conditions or make reliable investment decisions. Even basic friction and skid resistance data lack global consistency, hindering benchmarking and safety-focused asset planning. 

Pavement maintenance is further complicated by resource constraints. Local authorities often lack the budget and expertise for big monitoring to run complex LIDAR or laser systems. 

IRF Members’ Interventions: Deploying modern, simplified, and scalable technologies 
The webinar highlighted a suite of technologies aimed at resolving these bottlenecks by reducing cost, simplifying workflows, and improving safety for operators. 

1. Non-contact, solid-state road scanning systems 
XenomatiX presented vehicle-mounted solid-state sensors capable of simultaneous rutting, roughness and texture evaluation. These systems allow agencies to obtain continuous, high-density pavement data without lane closures or heavy equipment. Importantly, they integrate friction measurements, although data consistency remains a challenge globally, offering a path toward universal composability for safety indicators. 

2. On-board and smartphone-based roughness monitoring 
XenomatiX Vice President of Sales and BD Kris De Meester described the use of accelerometer-based systems that enable “an easier, simpler ways to measure things,” particularly for smaller authorities lacking capital-intensive tools. Smartphone-enabled IRI estimation offers a low-barrier entry point to structured pavement monitoring, allowing rural and small municipal networks to build datasets for the first time. 

3. Automated digital twins and integrated platforms 
NTRO Chief Technology Officer Russell Gallagher emphasised the value of digital twins for pavement asset management. These unified models allow agencies to centralise condition data, geometry, traffic, environmental records and maintenance history – providing the basis for predictive modelling and optimisation. 
Digital twins also help agencies manage ageing infrastructure by combining “existing data sets into a single source of truth” and enabling prioritisation based on real risk profiles rather than subjective assessments. 

4. State-of-the-art processes for lifespan prediction and treatment optimisation 
Both Kris and Russel demonstrated new workflows in which texture, roughness and structural indicators feed directly into treatment selection algorithms. This reduces guesswork and aligns interventions with lifecycle cost efficiency. Using higher-frequency and non-contact measurements allows earlier detection of deterioration, shifting agencies from reactive to preventative management.