Image: Logan City Council
When Australians think about their local governments, they might picture garbage collection, local libraries, or community parks.
Something unlikely to come to many people’s minds, however, is quad bikes. Yet these four-wheeled, ride-on, all-terrain-vehicles will be a part of one Queensland local government area’s efforts to serve the community over coming weeks.
Logan City Council, in south-east Queensland, is using quad bikes fitted with mobile cameras to hunt out damage to the area’s footpaths, cycleways, and other public areas.
As the two quad bikes traverse the city, mounted cameras will snap photos of uneven surfaces, recording with GPS the locations where repairs are needed.
Then, the city will provide the images and associated details to repair crews.
Logan is not the only council to use the bikes for this purpose, with local governments including Wollongong and Penrith in New South Wales having previously undertaken similar surveys.
The chairperson of Logan’s roads and water committee, Phil Pidgeon, said the bikes would improve safety and not disrupt residents.
“This is an important program aimed at improving the safety of everyone who uses footpaths throughout the city,” Pidgeon said in a media release.
“It’s a highly effective way of checking for cracks, loose concrete, and other damage to enable council crews with the information they need to prioritise their work and ensure repairs are carried out planned manner.”
The council has used quad bikes for the work on previous occasions, conducting the survey every three years. The current survey has already begun and will assess more than 1,100 kilometres of pavement in total.
“It’s not the first time Logan City Council has used quad bikes and we have found from previous similar inspections that it’s the quickest and most efficient way to identify problems and have them fixed,” Pidgeon said in the release.
“The bikes are already out on the streets, in all suburbs, and will be conducting survey until the process is completed at the end of October.”
The quad bikes are not owned by Logan, but are provided by a third-party, which conducts the survey for the council.
