Case Study: Bristol City Council gains trust in highways data with Gaist

How Bristol City Council gained complete trust in its highways data

Bristol City Council’s highways team needed a more reliable way to assess road condition and plan maintenance. Head of Highway Maintenance Shaun Taylor had lost trust in the existing SCANNER data, especially as budget cuts, staff reductions and the loss of experienced local knowledge made it harder to make confident decisions. Gaist was brought in to provide highway condition data and help the council get better value from its maintenance spend.

Gaist worked with Bristol City Council on a blind comparison against SCANNER, then fine-tuned its methodology so the right schemes were identified for surface dressing, resurfacing and footway maintenance. The results won over the team, with one later blind test described as “100%” accurate. Gaist’s SafetyView also improved safety inspections, prevented defects being missed, reduced court risk and allowed inspections to continue during COVID. Overall, Bristol became more data-led, improved productivity with fewer officers, and used Gaist’s data to influence investment and embed infrastructure maintenance in its corporate strategy.

Bristol City Council

Shaun Taylor

Head of Highway Maintenance