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FHWA Home / OIPD / Accelerating Innovation / Every Day Counts / EDC News: April 23, 2015

EDC News

April 23, 2015

Innovation Implementation: 3D Engineered Models: Schedule, Cost and Post-Production

While the transportation industry started building 3D engineered models to develop highway designs as far back as the 1990s, today’s uses for 3D modeling also include schedule and cost management, asset management and as-built records.

Using a 4D engineered model to incorporate scheduling information can help stakeholders gauge how jobs such as utility installation, grading and paving can affect a project schedule. Using 5D modeling links the scheduling component to cost data, allowing stakeholders to see how changes can affect a project’s overall cost and schedule. Post-construction survey data can be used to crease accurate as-built drawings of projects and update asset management systems.

Photo of Schedule (4D) and cost (5D) modeling

Highway agencies have used 4D models to deliver both large and small projects. Major projects that incorporated 4D modeling include the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge East Span replacement in California, the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement in Washington, and the I-95 New Haven Harbor Crossing corridor improvement project in Connecticut.

Innovation Councils Meet in Maryland and Nevada

Maryland State Highway Administration staff will present a plan to implement EDC-3 innovations during a meeting with the Maryland State Transportation Innovation Council on April 24. Staff from the Prince Georges County Department of Public Works and Transportation discussed a project to develop standards for low-cost bridges and culverts, which received 2014 STIC Incentive funding.

The Nevada STIC met April 22 to review EDC-3 innovations and recommendations for using them on specific projects and programs. Members also discussed a 2014 STIC Incentive-funded project to develop an implementation plan for the Nevada Department of Transportation’s Local Public Agency Certification Program and potential projects for 2015.

Minnesota and Nevada Explore Intelligent Compaction

The Minnesota Department of Transportation hosted an FHWA intelligent compaction data management workshop April 7 and 8 in Minneapolis. Participants received hands-on training on intelligent compaction software and watched equipment demonstrations. The Minnesota DOT received an Accelerated Innovation Deployment Demonstration grant to use intelligent compaction and infrared technology on about 10 asphalt paving projects.

Another intelligent compaction workshop and demonstration drew participants to Carson City, Nevada, April 22 and 23. The event was designed to inform transportation agency staff, contractors and consultants about how to use equipment-based technology to improve the compaction of various materials and ensure longer pavement life.

New York Extends Design-Build Authority

The New York State Legislature extended authority for the New York State Department of Transportation, New York State Thruway Authority and three other transportation agencies to use alternate contracting methods to deliver projects for the next two years. Alternate contracting methods allowed include design-build, best value on design-bid-build projects, cost-plus and prequalification. The original three-year trial period expired in December 2014.

Oklahoma Workshop Focuses on Smarter Work Zones

An FHWA workshop enabled Oklahoma Department of Transportation staff to learn about implementing technology applications in the state’s construction project work zones, part of the EDC-3 smarter work zones effort. The workshop covered the steps involved in applying ITS concepts to work zones, including needs assessment, concept development and feasibility, system planning and design, system deployment, maintenance and evaluation.

Washington Landslide Rebuild Wins National Award

The Snohomish County Public Works Department and Washington State Department of Transportation received the American Public Works Association’s first President’s Special Recognition Award for the design-build project to reconstruct a section of State Route 530. The road, damaged in March 2014 in a massive mudslide, reopened ahead of schedule in September 2014. The local chapter of APWA gave the SR 530 rebuild its 2015 Project of the Year Award in the Disaster/Emergency Construction Report category.

Wyoming Responders Use Incident Management Training

Training in traffic incident management techniques helped emergency responders from a dozen state and local agencies work together smoothly when three multivehicle crashes closed a section of I-80 west of Cheyenne, Wyoming. The crashes, involving some 60 cars and trucks and injuring more than 20 people, occurred during an April 16 snowstorm. Twenty minutes before the first crash, the Wyoming Department of Transportation’s Transportation Management Center used variable message signs to lower the speed limit on I-80 to 45 miles per hour.

EDC Exchange Features Road Diets

Transportation professionals across the country participated in an April 9 EDC Exchange on road diets, which reconfigure roadways to safely accommodate all users, increase mobility and reduce crashes. The EDC Exchange combined a national web-based presentation with in-person group discussions at locations in each state.

In Stillwater, Oklahoma, representatives of cities met to share successes and challenges using road diets in their jurisdictions before viewing the national exchange. In Virginia, people gathered at seven locations, nearly doubling the participation in past exchanges. Public agency staff in rural areas such as Blacksburg and Salem were as interested in learning about road diets as those in the urbanized areas of Hampton Roads, Northern Virginia and Richmond.

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Jeffrey A. Zaharewicz
Director
(202) 366-1325
Jeffrey.Zaharewicz@dot.gov


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Federal Highway Administration | 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE | Washington, DC 20590 | 202-366-4000