PLYMOUTH — Marshall County Highway Superintendent Jason Peters, along with the Marshall County Commissioners, continues to look at equipment and technology upgrades for efficiency in the department.
Monday, at their regular meeting, both heard a presentation from Slater Rush of Vialytics that produces software that easily records the condition of a municipality’s roads, signs, culverts, bridges, and any other assets via smartphone.
Rush outlined the AI-based software that uses a normal smartphone mounted on a vehicle to record roads throughout the county while analyzing their conditions. The software can produce a PASER (Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating) rating that can be used when applying for grant funds, and can also generate work orders for repairs necessary as they are recorded.
The software is by a three-year subscription rate of $49,000 a year and includes three cell phones for the county to use, along with professional training and consultation that will tailor the software to fit the exact needs of the county.
The data gathered would be the property of the county highway and could be combined with the current GIS system.
The Commissioners and Peters expressed their desire to pursue the software further, but expressed a need to look at the budget to see where the expense would fit, whether an additional appropriation request for the current budget year or adding it to the highway budget for 2026.
Peters also reported on a demonstration he had been given of a “Dura Patch” machine that the county could purchase for patching roads regardless of weather. He also said the manufacturer claims that use of the machine could save up to 40 percent on patching materials.
