Highway Department using new pavement research tool
"It certainly gives us a better tool to where best to spend our money."
Officials said the new road analyzer program saves the state money and keeps drivers safe.
The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department is using a large yellow van to take samples of our area state highways and interstates.
Several cameras surround the van in order to give engineers and idea of what they're seeing when they're going down the road.
Special lasers take pictures of the road to see if mother nature has caused cracks or problems in the pavement.
"The information they'll gather this year they won't be able to tell a whole lot from this past winter. It's a trend over a number of years that we can look at, because when we could go back two or three years and look at the impact that we've had from previous winters," said Joe Shipman, Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department District Engineer.
Highway officials said the van goes all across the state.
They said the equipment helps them find the trouble spots.
"The terrain up here it's more mountainous, where the east it's flat straight roads --interstate truck traffic that will affect the roads," said Mark Frazier, a member of the road analyst team.
"By utilizing this information to get some idea of the condition of our roadways in a quantitative measure, it certainly gives us a better tool to where best to spend our money," said Shipman.