Improving the Transparency of Construction Projects Through Visualization Technology

Reconstruction of major metropolitan highway projects is a complex engineering process during which detailed engineering plans and specifications are prepared and the construction operations are performed according to those plans and specifications. Most of these complex projects take years to plan and design and several more years to construct. One major challenge associated with urban and metropolitan highway reconstruction is balancing the mobility needs of the driving public and the construction needs of the contractor. In general, this balance is accomplished through the development of detailed traffic control plans (TCPs). These TCPs are primarily engineering documents. Typically, they are shared between an engineer, owner, and contractor on printed sheets of 11- × 17-in. paper. On large projects, a TCP document can consist of several thousand sheets. A TCP depicts the sequence of construction and the management of traffic (i.e., spatial information only). Timeline information (i.e., temporal data on the construction sequences) is contained in a separate system for scheduling data. Since the turn of this century and through the availability of powerful personal-computer-based, three-dimensional modeling tools, scheduling software, and their integration, the latest visual modeling techniques have become possible and cost-effective to use in the development and presentation of complex spatial and temporal engineering information to project stakeholders in a user-friendly format. This paper presents a case study of the successful use of this technology on the $2.6 billion Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway reconstruction project in Dallas, Texas.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.3141/2408-05
• Summary URL:
  http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=Improving+the+Transparency+of+Construction+Projects+Through+Visualization+Technology&author=N.+Khwaja&author=C.+Schmeits&publication_year=2014
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9780309294997
• Authors:
  • Khwaja, Nabeel
  • Schmeits, Cameron
• Publication Date: 2014

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; Maps; References;
• Pagination: pp 34–43
• Monograph Title: Construction 2014
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
  • Issue Number: 2408
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Case studies; Computer aided design; Construction management; Metropolitan areas; Planning and design; Reconstruction; Traffic engineering; Visualization
• Geographic Terms: Dallas (Texas)
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Construction; Data and Information Technology; Highways; Pavements; I50: Construction and Supervision of Construction;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01506374
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 9780309294997
• Report/Paper Numbers: 14-4694
• Files: PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 3 2014 9:17AM