Low-Budget Techniques for Road Network Mapping and Road Condition Assessment That Are Accessible to Transport Agencies in Developing Countries

In rural areas of developing countries, the poor quality of road location and condition data—which in most cases are outdated or nonexistent—is a barrier to transport decision making and investment. Without good information about the transport infrastructure, the local administrations, national agencies, and international donors have difficulty prioritizing investments that will produce higher economic and social returns. Most local and national transport agencies in developing countries lack the specific technology, expensive equipment, and professionally trained staff to survey and collect data on rural roads. Lessons are shared from a pilot project that used an inexpensive technique to survey and assess the condition of road infrastructure in rural areas of Mozambique. Local transport engineers were provided with a smartphone app called RoadLab Pro to increase their awareness of new approaches, tools, and technologies. This pilot project aimed to build technical capacity in applying and replicating practices for use in the future while lowering the barriers to transport decision making and investment that asset management and data collection represent for low-capacity and underresourced transport agencies in developing countries.