SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – The city of South Burlington has partnered with StreetScan to evaluate the condition of city sidewalks. The company collects high-resolution video and images to identify sidewalk cracks, tripping hazards, and other surface distortions.
“Being a walkable and bikeable city is a huge priority for us,” Jessie Baker, South Burlington city manager said. “Not only is it a way to create a safe and healthy community, giving people options of alternative forms of transportation to navigate, it also helps us address the impacts of climate change.”
“You have a lot asphalt in this town and you have a lot of trees in this town, those two don’t go very well together,” Dave Voigtsberger, a StreetScan field collection technician said. “You’ll just walk down the sidewalk and you’ll see a little bump where there is a root pushing up, and eventually it will crack.”
This data will paint a comprehensive picture of the condition of city sidewalks and help officials identify areas most in need of investment and develop a repair and maintenance plan.
“It’s taking the arbitrary nature out of it, the picking and choosing, and really driving it with the data,” Adam Cate with South Burlington Dept. of Public Works said.
Armed with a scooter and a smart device, a team of three from StreetScan are covering 55 miles of sidewalks and 25 miles of shared use paths. They will also be checking the ADA compliance of sidewalks at every intersection.
“We kind of have an interesting city in that we have some very older sections that do not have a lot of the ADA requirements, with the slope on the ramps at crosswalks and the detectable warning signals,” Cate said.
Their work is being completed in three phases. First technicians check the pedestrian ramps. Then they film all sidewalks, before finally doing a detailed sweep of all cracks.
“When it comes to the detailed inspection, we have to stop frequently. Sometimes we’re just walking the scooter down the sidewalk and taking picture, picture, picture,” Voigtsberger said.
The South Burlington City Council allocated more money this year and next to go towards sidewalk maintenance. City officials hope that StreetScan’s report will be ready by this winter, so that they can begin work next spring.
“We want to make sure that all of our residents have access to the same level of infrastructure,” Baker said.
Technicians with StreetScan are expected to finish their field collection work in the next few weeks, before analysts begin going through the data.