Roadside geohazards, such as avalanches, landslides, and rockfalls, pose significant threats to transportation networks and road users worldwide. The economic costs of roadway closures and the impact on critical transportation reliability have led to the exploration of innovative solutions. In response to these challenges, road owners and operators, like the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, are turning to cutting-edge technology: autonomous Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

UAVs have emerged as powerful allies in monitoring and evaluating geohazards, offering numerous advantages over traditional methods. Notably, they overcome technical and logistical challenges associated with data collection in exposed and inaccessible areas. While crewed helicopters have been the preferred choice for airborne surveys, UAVs reduce the need for helicopter flights, resulting in time and cost savings, decreased risk, and lower environmental impact. As a result, UAVs have become invaluable tools for emergency responders, practitioners, and researchers alike, deployed to document events like slides and rockfalls, map geomorphological changes, and monitor developing hazards. Furthermore, UAVs are now poised to become essential assets in the decision-making toolbox of road owners, guiding critical choices such as closing or reopening mountain roads threatened by avalanches or other hazards.

Delving deeper, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration is leading a pioneering public sector innovation project called Geohazard Survey from Air (GEOSFAIR). This project focuses on remote decision support by UAV, with a specific emphasis on avalanche applications. The GEOSFAIR project aims to develop effective methodologies for collecting and integrating UAV data into geohazard risk assessments while considering both technological specifications and decision-making requirements. Although the primary focus is on snow avalanches, the methods developed through GEOSFAIR will be transferable to other natural hazards that affect the reliable operation and maintenance of transportation networks, such as landslides and rock avalanches. The collaboration between the Norwegian Public Roads Administration and research partners, the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute and SINTEF, seeks to test cutting-edge technology, develop best practices, and propose recommendations for effective implementation.