Technological Capabilities of Departments of Transportation for Digital Project Management and Delivery (2022)

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3   Introduction Highway projects are in the midst of a technological transformation. There is a wave of digitalization potential for highway-project management and delivery with a variety of advanced digital construction (ADC) management systems and technologies. This transformation presents opportunities to explore technologies that assist in visualization, automation, decision-making, documentation, and management. As state departments of transportation (DOTs) rapidly explore, deploy, and implement these technologies and associated processes, it becomes impor- tant to highlight success while learning from inefficiencies. Thus, this NCHRP synthesis project documented issues related to ADC and its capabilities to assist in highway-project management and delivery in the United States. This chapter provides an overview of the topic and synthesis study to inform of relevant issues with ADC, while also highlighting the issues to be covered in this report. 1.1 Background Many believe the next sea change in efficiency and productivity for the highway industry will be the “digitalization” of project management and delivery, the ability to seamlessly use digital information across all project phases for visualization, automation, decision-making, and management. The FHWA has invested more than $35 million to support this, in the form of components of the larger concept of Building Information Modeling (BIM) for infrastructure. Examples of this investment include 3-D modeling, e-Construction, automated machine guid- ance (AMG), small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), and BIM research. For many years, digital design, construction, and management methods, as components of BIM, have been improving delivery in the “vertical” building industry by creating efficiencies that lower costs, generate fewer field “clashes,” and increase the speed of construction. Some of those technologies have made their way into civil infrastructure and transportation projects and have been steadily gaining traction with state DOTs and industry. For example, 3-D models and e-Construction have gained significant momentum as the design and construction com- ponents of BIM, in which traditional paper and PDF documentation is replaced with digital information and tools to improve workflows to save time and money. Some DOTs have taken further steps to incorporate such digital technologies into their whole-enterprise business processes, moving toward the vision of BIM for life cycle data management. Other DOTs have not strayed far from traditional techniques, waiting to see where digitalization makes sense and provides real benefits. While noting the significant number of solutions available for ADC to affect project manage- ment and delivery, bounds must be set. Thus, for the purposes of this study, 16 ADC technologies or systems were identified for exploration in literature, a national survey, and case examples. C H A P T E R 1

4 Technological Capabilities of Departments of Transportation for Digital Project Management and Delivery Those technologies are noted as follows and are further defined and discussed in the literature review in Chapter 2. 1. 3-D models for design (i.e., strictly a design model, not shared with external stakeholders); 2. 3-D models for information only (i.e., provided to contractors as information only); 3. 3-D models as a contract document; 4. Drones or small UAS; 5. Digital signatures; 6. Digital as-builts (i.e., as-constructed 3-D models and metadata); 7. Electronic bidding; 8. e-Ticketing; 9. Electronic construction document management systems (e.g., bidding and letting documents); 10. Construction administration software (e.g., AASHTOWare Project Construction & Materials); 11. Mobile devices for inspection and acceptance (e.g., GPS rovers, tablets, and smartphones); 12. Reality capture (e.g., light detection and ranging [LiDAR] or photogrammetry); 13. Intelligent compaction (IC) or thermal profiling (IR); 14. 5G/small cell technology; 15. Automated machine guidance (AMG); and 16. Augmented reality (AR) (e.g., model review, inspection, or stakeholder outreach). 1.2 Synthesis Objective This synthesis’s objective was to gather information regarding the current processes and strategies for the use of ADC management systems in state DOTs during project management and delivery. As DOTs are inundated with a variety of technological products, an understanding of successes can help narrow in and focus on what may benefit each individual agency the most. The purpose of this synthesis is to document the use of ADC systems by DOTs in the delivery of highway projects, from planning, design, and construction to maintenance and asset manage- ment. ADC use for this project is a series of technologies and tools that can assist in capturing and sharing digital project data throughout a project’s life cycle. ADC includes components of BIM for infrastructure, such as e-Construction, 3-D models, digital documentation, and geo- spatial tools that are working to leverage digital efficiencies. Specifically, this synthesis collected the following information: • DOT use of various components of ADC; • Extent of ADC use; • Transfer and use of digital data between highway-construction project stakeholders; • Transfer of digital data for asset management; • Challenges to implementing, collecting, and sharing digital data; and • DOT documentation on data governance. 1.3 Study Approach An extensive literature review on the topic provides the initial understanding on the current state of research and practice regarding ADC use during project management and delivery. The findings of the review are outlined in Chapter 2. The existing literature and previous discussions with DOTs assisted with the development of the survey questionnaire. A survey was created to capture the state of practice of ADC use. Under the guidance of the topic panel, the survey was divided into the following categories: demographic information, general ADC technology use, specific ADC use, feedback on performance, and written policies and procedures. Qualtrics provided the platform for the creation and distribution of the electronic

Introduction 5   survey. Once the final draft of the survey was approved, an email request with the survey link was distributed to the voting DOT membership of the AASHTO Committee on Construction (COC). The committee members were asked to distribute the survey to individuals with knowl- edge of ADC use within their organizations. The complete survey is given in Appendix A, with DOT-by-DOT results presented in Appendix B. A total of 42 responses were collected from the survey, which was distributed to all 50 state DOTs and the District of Columbia, providing an 82% response rate. Following the analysis of survey responses, subsequent case examples were conducted to gather further information on the topic. A total of five state DOTs were chosen to get an in-depth understanding of the successes, challenges, and barriers to using ADC technologies in project delivery. The chosen state DOTs noted that they had a data-management plan and/or specific written policy language around use of ADC technologies. The DOTs were contacted for assistance with the study, and all five agreed to participate in the interviews. Details of the individual case examples are outlined in Chapter 4, and the questions asked can be found in Appendix C. A summary of findings from the entire study is outlined in Chapter 5, with references and appendices following.