Transportation engineering & planning has witnessed a complete changeover, ever since the winds of Building Information Modelling (BIM) have hit the construction industry.
BIM is the process of creating, storing, & processing information about a construction project, be it buildings or roads. It creates an intelligent model that depicts all the aspects of the construction before the actual construction begins. Contrary to popular belief, BIM is not a specialized tool. Instead, it is a complete approach towards the planning and designing of an entire construction project.
Transportation engineering is the new horizon that BIM has set its foot on. Transportation engineering & planning involves the construction, operation, and management of facilities and services in order to achieve a safe, convenient and economical movement of people and goods. It is highly essential in city planning and shaping the cities enhancing the quality of life.
Incorporating BIM into transportation engineering & planning has been a revolution considering all the benefits it offers. Let’s now peep into the 6 overlooked benefits of BIM in transportation engineering & planning these days.
Overlooked Benefits of BIM in Transportation Engineering
1) Maximized Efficiency
In a transportation project, the pre-construction phase is the most important one. BIM makes the pre-construction process easier to manage and faster to complete. It helps designers create designs faster and the estimators in bringing their estimations to perfection.
The cloud-based collaboration features offered by BIM helps designers and estimates access the project as and when required and make suitable amendments on the go. Once a change is made to the existing model, it will be reflected in all the files. It also reduces the risk of errors and reworks which is a result of incorrect and inaccurate data.
2) Reduced Cost and Waste
The specialized tools in BIM improve the accuracy of the design & planning phase of a transportation project before first breaking ground. This will in turn facilitate consistent cost savings and also in minimizing the risk of human error during the preconstruction phase.
3) Improves the Accuracy of Estimates
A BIM model is an intelligent 3D model, unlike the CAD models which run on 2D. 3D blueprints of the roads will give a far better insight into the plan to work with. Working with such a detailed plan will eliminate any room for errors in the estimates. In short, an estimation can be finished faster with BIM tools.
The benefits of BIM in estimation are not restricted to cost estimation. Instead, its benefits can also be leveraged in quantity take-off.
4) Better Project Insights
What BIM offers is a realistic 3D model to look at and the virtual model of the final outcome of the transportation project. It offers better visualization of the expected end result of the proposed plan helping improve the quality of planning and design of the project.
The contractors and clients involved in the project will have a better understanding of the project they are working on. A data-rich & intelligent 3D BIM model will help the stakeholders have a deeper look into the project helping them identify any flaws in the proposed plans.
Any threat to the construction project can be identified prior and can be taken care of helping save time & money.
5) Offers a Collaborative Work Environment
BIM provides a collaborative work environment in general. When it comes to transportation planning, having a BIM model can help the stakeholders in the project to easily communicate and coordinate among themselves.
The different stakeholders in a project can access the cloud-based BIM model & make changes to it in real-time. The cloud-based technology will also help maintain the model up to date irrespective of the changes made to it from any corner of the world.
Because of the collaborative environment, a BIM model offers, every stage of the transportation project can be worked on simultaneously at any time.
6) Reduced Risk and Guaranteed Results
With BIM offering a better ground for preconstruction planning, the chances for errors during the construction phase can be brought to a minimum. Everything including onsite risk mitigation processes can be better planned with BIM making it an ideal mitigation tool.
In Closing
BIM in transportation engineering & planning has been gaining traction in the construction industry since the last decade. Improved communication and collaboration in a BIM implemented transportation project will for sure ensure the timely completion of a transportation project.
