4 ways to get your mojo back: innovations that will breathe new life into roads and highways projects

Getting to BIM for roads and highways

Infrastructure has been in the news a bit lately, some of it good, some of it bad. But all publicity is good publicity, and with Infrastructure Week activities just a month ago, this publicity created a lot of attention for infrastructure with policymakers.  You can see some of our conversation on that here. While the attention to the topic is great, at some point, the exchange of ideas need to shift to planning for something actionable that improves efficiency, saves money and creates high performing, long lasting infrastructure assets.  This starts with BIM for Infrastructure.

It starts with BIM

If you are still in 2D, it’s time to make the move to 3D and Civil 3D. This is your entry to BIM.  BIM is more than just 3D; it is a collaborative process driven by the creation and exchange of relevant digital information. Civil 3D supports a Building Information Modeling (BIM) workflow specifically for enhanced civil engineering design and construction documentation.  We call this the entry to BIM because it introduces 3D, parametric modeling to a historically 2D design environment. An added bonus is the ability to connect intelligent, structured data to the 3D digital models which can be used downstream to support paperless construction and enhanced asset management processes.

• Several DOTs either require Civil 3D for their design projects or have opened the deliverables to Civil 3D and Bentley formats.
• More surveyors and designers get trained in Civil 3D and pressure DOTs to allow them to deliver projects in Civil 3D formats as opposed to requiring a Bentley format.

Image courtesy Kelprojektas

Reasons for the shift – EDC-3 Innovations

• Where the focus is on 3D engineered models (schedule, cost and post production)
• Where data-driven safety analysis needs an intelligent model to deliver on the requirements

Civil 3D provides this intelligent modeling environment. From civil design to drafting and documentation to visualization and analysis, this tool can help you to optimize your design workflows. Learn more about BIM for roads and highways here.

Next is innovation mojo

Your first step is BIM, but beyond that, how do you get beyond traditional design workflows and bring a little innovation mojo to the roads and highways design process? Here are our suggestions.