Urban road surface crack detection based on U-net and ResNeXt network

J Jun Qiao H Huabing Wang Z Zidong Zhou Y Yunwei Meng M Minghui Gong

Abstract

With the continuous increase in urban road usage, various cracks often appear on the road surface, which may pose a threat to traffic safety. Presently, road inspection is still primarily limited to manual methods, which suffer from low efficiency, limited accuracy, and subjective judgment. To enhance the efficiency of road crack detection, the paper designs an innovative detection technology that fuses U-net and ResNeXt networks. The results showed that the proposed method achieved superior detection performance on horizontal and vertical cracks. While its recognition and classification capabilities for other types of cracks and block cracks need improvement, it still demonstrated significant overall classification performance. Compared with numerous detection methods, the performance of the proposed method was notably superior. The peak memory efficiency of the video memory of this method is controlled within 2.1GB. This indicates that in practical applications, the proposed method can provide accurate information on road surface cracks, making it easier for workers to take corresponding remedial measures. In summary, the proposed urban road surface crack detection method can be integrated into intelligent transportation systems, providing technical support for real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance of road conditions.

Article Details

Journal PLoS ONE
Volume / Issue Vol. 21, Issue 4
Published April 21, 2026
Pages e0347145
ISSN 1932-6203
Publisher Public Library of Science

Journal Info

PLoS ONE

Public Library of Science

ISSN: 1932-6203 Open Access Health Sciences

Authors (5)

J

Jun Qiao

H

Huabing Wang

Z

Zidong Zhou

Y

Yunwei Meng

M

Minghui Gong