65 years on the road to innovation: plans of road science for 2025

Next year, the domestic road industry is waiting for big changes. Arman Alibayeva, President of JSC “KazdorNII” commented on the new tasks set by the Ministry of Transport to road scientists.

• Arman Khalilollovna, how was the year 2024 for scientists?

The past year was even more productive and rich than 2023. We observe growth in all directions, all the set goals have been achieved.

We launched the pilot operation of the Unified Base of road construction materials and new technologies - the first large-scale IT-project of its kind for the road industry of Kazakhstan. In a short period of time we managed to create a fundamental IT system, which is comparable in importance to other successful digital projects in the country, providing acceleration and traceability of processes.

Our base provides maximum transparency and convenience in the selection and implementation of road construction materials and technologies. By eliminating lobbying and shadow relations, we will eventually achieve a noticeable improvement in the quality of roads, since only quality products are included in the database.

Open access protects contractors from costly mistakes, and this approach encourages manufacturers of materials and suppliers of technologies to increase competition, develop and offer only the best products and services. With the approval of the Road Committee, the functionality of the database is being expanded. Useful electronic services about everything related to design, maintenance, repair, reconstruction and construction of highways are being added. GIS-map of construction materials manufacturing plants, catalog of innovative road machines and mechanisms, registers of asphalt concrete plants, accredited laboratories, cement and mineral powder manufacturers, technical means of road safety are already included.

Already during the creation of the Unified Base a number of unresolved issues have been moved from the place. For example, a full audit of all quarries and asphalt-concrete plants working for the road sector was legally conducted on a subgrade. According to the results of the survey, a complete picture of the state of the facilities was drawn up and now every participant of the industry can familiarize themselves with the information in the public domain.

In parallel, during the year the institute developed 4 more IT systems for bridge engineers, road diagnostics and certification specialists, designers, as well as for the selection and recruitment of professional road workers. On the example of the Bridge Operation Management System, I would like to focus attention on the relevance of digitalization of the industry. Specialists have made a truly historic step.

There are about 3.7 thousand bridge structures in Kazakhstan, including 1.2 thousand on the republican roads and about 2 thousand on the local network. More than half - 60% - of them are already at the end of their life cycle. Therefore, we have an urgent need to have a clear picture of their technical condition. Not only people's lives, but also the security of the state depend on it.

Creation of the EMS will make it possible to scan and collect data on all bridge structures of the republic on a single digital platform. Based on the collected materials, the system will be able to analyze the current situation, forecast and calculate repair and reconstruction works in an automatic mode and at a high speed unattainable for a human being.

As part of the tasks of digitizing bridges, KazdorNII is introducing 3D modeling technologies for structures, bringing us closer to the transition to BIM-technologies in the construction of bridge structures. Next year it is expected to introduce relevant changes to the regulations on road design. The technological breakthrough will make it possible to create and calculate the full life cycle of bridges from the design stage to decommissioning. Computer 3d modeling will make it possible to analyze all the processes that will take place in the structures even before the start of their construction.

This will cover all the needs of managing the operation of strategic facilities.

Another subject of our pride is the road network management system. On the initiative of akimats of several regions, 16 thousand km of city streets and country roads have been passportized. As part of the project, virtual copies of highways were created, which can already be seen on our platform. The ideas of maintaining digital doubles of road infrastructure have been repeatedly voiced by the Government. SUDS will improve the efficiency of road network management and allow planning and carrying out repair and maintenance works based on up-to-date data. Accurate forecasting and resource allocation will help reduce costs.

I would like to add that in 2024 KazdorNII continued its labor-intensive and meticulous work to update the domestic industry regulatory base. A key step was the development of the industry-specific regulatory documents of the road industry, which will determine the structure of the updated base of industry-specific regulatory documents.

The main emphasis in the future new structure of regulatory documents is placed on ensuring safety and quality of highways at all phases of their life cycle.

In addition, the first phase of international standards has been prepared for implementation. Integration will serve as a channel of interaction with the experience of the world road community. In particular, in the issues of Kazakhstan's transition to Superpave technology.

And also in the past year we celebrated the 65th anniversary of KazdorNII. Of course, the anniversary is “local”, but, without exaggeration, this important date reflects the historical path of development of the entire road industry of Kazakhstan.

• What tasks KazdorNII sets itself for 2025?

Next year the research work will be brought to the forefront.

In particular, we have announced 3 scientific projects on the topics of testing asphalt concrete, bitumen and soil stabilization. These studies are aimed at improving the quality, stability and performance properties of the materials.

More research is planned to assess road safety. This is now a very topical issue for Kazakhstan. The concerns of the population are shared by the Government. The Committee of Highways has been given the task to strengthen work in this direction.

In November, a departmental norm of the KAD of the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Kazakhstan was approved, which for the first time in the history of the country enshrined the concepts and norms related to audit and inspection of road safety. During the year we have trained specialists and aim to further study the best European experience in the field of road safety analysis.

Based on the results of the studies, we will develop a clear concept of road safety in Kazakhstan - a strategic document that will cover all cycles of road construction - from design to operation, and will become the basis for systemic measures to reduce accidents on the country's roads.

The second main emphasis we put on scientific support for the introduction of Superpave technology. It is already planned to study the international experience of designing highways using a new methodology for Kazakhstan.

Also, the plan for the next year includes the continuation of scientific research on the use of industrial waste in road construction, the introduction of digital twins of bridge structures and the development of a methodology for determining the quantity and quality of polymers in bitumen, which will allow to clearly control the recipe at the plants and improve the quality of the final product.

To address the problem of industrial waste utilization, we will add a GIS map and a new register to the Unified Base, including information on their location, reserves and potential use in construction.

Can you disclose details of the plans to introduce Superpave technology?

Superpave is one of the top priorities for 2025. We have developed a roadmap for technology implementation and have already started the approval process.

For the first half of the year we have set tasks to identify contractors and train employees of QazAvtoJol, contractors, bituminous and asphalt concrete plants. At the same time, selection and testing of asphalt-concrete mixes will be carried out taking into account transport intensity and climatic conditions of Kazakhstan regions. At the end of the stage, the selected compositions will be reproduced directly at the asphalt plant.

Construction of three pilot sections on the roads “Aktobe - Ulgaysyn”, “Samara - Shymkent” and “Almaty - Khorgos” will begin in the third quarter. They will be constructed under the scientific and technical support of KazdorNII together with international experts.

At the end of 2025, the results will be summarized, including an analysis of the effectiveness of the technology and a conclusion on the results of implementation.