Bloomberg – With 65 percent of U.S. roads rated in less than good condition, cities and states no longer leave funding decisions to intuition and influence: “Instead, they use data vacuumed up by arachnid-armed “spider vans” with bulbous cameras and global-positioning equipment protruding from roofs. Six computers inside Phoenix’s four-ton vehicle stored data for engineers to download. “Our roads are in pretty tough shape,” said Mark Glock, the city’s deputy street transportation director. “Our annual budget is $23 million. We are on a 65-year cycle and we know pavement only lasts 35 years. We’re very limited in our treatments.” About 20 transportation departments from Seattle to South Dakota to Connecticut are deploying vans sold by a unit of Fugro NV to triage work and stretch budgets. These departments, together with others using systems made by a handful of competitors, use the data to comply with new federal rules requiring states to survey roadways and set targets for improvement.”