Dresden is installing a network of advanced axle-load sensors beneath its busiest roads to monitor real-time infrastructure degradation. By tracking heavy vehicle weight and environmental stress, the city aims to transition from reactive patchwork to a data-driven, predictive maintenance strategy for its aging asphalt network.
The intersection of Radeberger and Bautzner Straße will undergo a full closure from November 13 at 4:00 p.m. until November 16 at 4:00 a.m. While inconvenient for commuters, the disruption is essential for the installation of an “Achslastwaagen-Messstelle”—or axle-load weighing station.
How sensors turn asphalt into data
The city is effectively turning its streets into a giant, subterranean monitoring device. Engineers mill 1.75-meter-long, seven-centimeter-wide, and six-centimeter-deep channels into the asphalt to house eight specialized axle-load sensors. These are secured with a high-strength epoxy resin and combined with contact loops and temperature probes to capture a comprehensive picture of how the road performs under pressure.
The sensors convert the weight of passing vehicles into electrical impulses. A data logger, housed in a roadside cabinet, processes these signals to correlate specific wheel loads with total vehicle weight. By measuring the time interval between pulses, the system also calculates vehicle speed.
This allows city planners to see exactly how buses and heavy-duty freight traffic contribute to the “aging” of the surface, factoring in external variables like wind, precipitation, and thermal expansion or contraction.
What happens beyond the sensors
The project, titled “Strategic Maintenance Management,” relies on more than just these six weighing stations. Between late June and September, a specialized diagnostic vehicle mapped the entire Dresden road network using laser scanners and high-resolution cameras. This fleet identified cracks as narrow as 0.5 millimeters, along with potholes, ruts, and surface deformations.
By fusing this structural snapshot with real-time data from the new sensors, the city intends to build a predictive software model. This intelligence will dictate the priority list for future road repairs, ensuring funds are directed toward the sections showing the most rapid deterioration.
The project carries a total price tag of approximately 1.3 million euros, with 65 percent of the funding provided by the KfW development bank, while the city covers the remainder.
Is this the future of urban infrastructure?
Each sensor station costs 60,000 euros for hardware and approximately 50,000 euros for installation.
The existing network of sensors is already operational at key locations across the city, including the Tharandter Straße, Dohnaer Straße, Washingtonstraße, the B170/Bergstraße stretch heading into the city center, and the Stauffenbergallee. Mit der Radeberger/Bautzner Straße kommt die sechste und vorerst letzte Messstelle dieser Art online.
