What Is Road Score in Mine Road Monitoring?
Road Score is Proof Engineers' summary metric in Road Condition Monitoring. It condenses sensor-based road quality results for a haul road section or network so teams can compare condition and track change over time.
In published Proof results, Road Score is shown as a percentage. Higher scores correspond with better measured road condition. It is useful for baselines, deterioration and before-and-after maintenance review. It is not a universal industry road standard, not IRI, and not a rolling resistance measurement.
It does not replace engineering judgement, drainage inspection or a physical check of a defect.
Best use of Road Score
Road Score is most useful for comparing road condition consistently over time: establishing a baseline, identifying deterioration and measuring change after maintenance.
What does a higher Road Score mean?
A higher Road Score means the monitored section is measuring in better condition than a lower score on the same setup. Mine teams use that directionally: this road is better than that one, or this road is better than it was last week.
It is a summary, not a diagnosis. Two sections can share a similar score for different reasons. The heat map and an inspection still matter when the question is what to fix.
What range does Road Score use?
Proof Engineers reports Road Score as a percentage in case studies and dashboards. Published examples include 38.80% to 44% on a lithium trial network, 62.5% to 85.3% on one trial section, and 63.79% to 79.13% on the dig-floor study.
Those figures show it is used as a percentage scale in practice. Proof does not publish a separate specification that every site must occupy the full 0–100 range, and a given network may sit in a narrower band.
What goes into Road Score?
Road Score is derived from the same vehicle-mounted sensor and GPS data that feeds RCM heat maps and section views. Proof processes that data into a condition summary for the roads those vehicles travelled.
The detailed formula is proprietary. What matters operationally is that it is a consistent summary of RCM results, not a separate survey method and not a laboratory pavement test.
Can Road Score compare different road sections?
Yes, within a site that is using a consistent monitoring setup. That is one of its main jobs: ranking sections so the maintenance conversation is not only about the road someone drove this morning.
Can Road Score track one road before and after maintenance?
Yes. That is the cleanest use. Set a baseline, do the work, read the same section again. The dig-floor example above is that pattern. The Western Australia lithium mine trial used the same idea at network scale: overall Road Score +5.2% after RCM-informed maintenance, with some sections moving much more than others.
Can Road Scores from different mines be compared directly?
Direct comparison between mines is not a reliable use of the metric. Vehicle mix, installation, traffic patterns and site calibration all sit underneath the number. Road Score is built for consistency on a given operation, not as a league table across companies.
Is Road Score the same as IRI?
No. IRI is a highway roughness index used in public-road engineering. Road Score is Proof Engineers' own summary of mine haul road condition from RCM sensor data. Treat them as different measurements.
Is Road Score a rolling resistance measurement?
No. Rolling resistance is a separate physical quantity. RCM and Road Score describe surface condition. They do not output an RR%. For how roughness still shows up in cycle time and tyre wear, see How haul road roughness and rolling resistance affect cycle time and tyre wear.
Does Road Score replace engineering judgement?
No. It is a shared number for comparison and trend review. Drainage, construction defects, material selection and safety still need people who know the road.
Establish a road condition baseline
Proof Engineers can show how Road Score and condition heat maps would be used to set a baseline on your haul network before the next maintenance cycle.
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