SAN ANTONIO – Towing a gadget-packed trailer hitched to his e-bike over endless miles of sidewalk, Lord Carson Mba-Aziantu gets endless versions of the same question.
What exactly is he doing?
“I’ve had people ask me like, ‘What is that? Are you a DJ on wheels?’” he said.
Unless DJ is short for “data jockey,” no, he’s not. Nor is he “streaming,” as others ask, though at least that’s closer to reality.
“I need to get a shirt that says, ‘I’m collecting … data,’” he joked.
Thanks to Mba-Aziantu and other workers from Roadway Asset Services (RAS), an Austin-based company finishing up a three-year contract with the city, San Antonio is close to having a complete assessment of the condition of all 5,919 miles of its disjointed sidewalk system.
The trailer, or “chariot” as RAS riders call it, is packed with cameras, a laser, GPS, and an internal level, and the e-bike has a forward-facing camera. By towing it over sidewalks and having riders log obstructions like utility poles and mailboxes, RAS can map out defects and use an algorithm developed in conjunction with the city to score each section.
“And so you have all these defects; we call them cookie crumbs. And then we’ll actually score the whole segment based on that. We’ll score it for slope. We’ll score it for obstructions. We’ll score it for horizontal defects and vertical defects,” explained Karlo Jajliardo, the Public Works engineering programs manager for the special projects section.
It can be slow going, though. On good sidewalks, clear of obstructions, Mba-Aziantu said he logs about 30 miles in a day, but that drops off on rougher sidewalks.
RAS only needs to finish about 112 more miles, Public Works officials say, but close to 73% of the city’s sidewalks are rated to be in “fair” to “excellent” condition so far.
A slide from a Public Works presentation during a Sept. 2, 2026 San Antonio City Council budget discussion (City of San Antonio)
They say the map will help them make decisions on where to invest a limited amount of city dollars, especially when they combine the information with “destination scores.”
“In other words, if the location is in close proximity to a high-pedestrian area like a school or a park, community center, hospital, bus stop, or something along those lines, then we’re better able to use a combination of the condition score and the destination score to target those areas to ensure that the limited funds that we have for sidewalk maintenance in the city — that we’re able to allocate those in the most effective areas where it’s going to have the most impact,” said Anthony Chukwudolue, the Public Works deputy director over streets.
The city has more than 1,500 miles of gaps between existing sidewalks, but Public Works officials estimate filling all of them in would take about $900 million. And that’s before they tackle maintaining the sidewalks that are already in place.
A slide from a Public Works presentation during a Sept. 2, 2026 City Council budget discussion (City of San Antonio)
The proposed city budget has only $12.8 million earmarked for sidewalks —about 60% of what it had two years earlier — which is enough to add 12.8 miles of new sidewalk and repair another 8.7 miles.
A portion of the money will be used specifically to grind down tripping hazards where the sidewalk panels don’t line up and remove obstructions like utility poles.
The idea of the condition assessment isn’t foreign to the city. Since 2011, Chukwudolue said, the city has hired a consulting firm every three to four years to score its streets, which helps direct its investments.
Chukwudolue said the city plans to release the new sidewalk conditions on its website when the work is completed.
“So they have a better sense through that on when potentially the city might be able to come to their area to do something,” he said.
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