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Digital Project Delivery
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s (KYTC’s) Digital Project Delivery (DPD) Initiative focuses on incorporating Building Information Modeling (BIM) into transportation asset management. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) promotes DPD through its Accelerated Implementation and Deployment of Advanced Digital Construction Systems (ADCMS) program. The Cabinet defines DPD as:
“the comprehensive management of our transportation network through the focused delivery of projects utilizing digital data and 3D modeling to create a centralized living representation of our network and its assets. This is housed in a common data environment that can be read, used, and contributed to by all elements of the project development and preservation processes. It offers data users more efficient and intuitive information exchange throughout an asset’s lifecycle.”
A core team is responsible for managing DPD pilot projects, determining project objectives, documenting project outcomes, and evaluating DPD software. District Project Teams, which include design and construction staff, help identify project objectives.
KYTC’s goal is to eventually transition all project data from static 2D plan sets to robust 3D digital representations. Migrating to DPD will improve the quality and resolution of data created during planning and design, collected throughout construction, and maintained across asset lifecycles. A key focus of DPD is gathering and storing geospatial data on assets (e.g., new guardrail, structures, signs, striping), which can be used to improve asset management. Through DPD the Cabinet can also more easily collect, store, and retrieve attribute data such as:
- End treatment type and manufacturer
- Installed length of guardrail
- Drainage pipe type and manufacturer
- Sign type, size, and location
DPD is a collaboration between project stakeholders from Project Development, Project Delivery and Preservation, and Engineering Support that begins with the pilot project selection process. KYTC receives nominations via the DPD website. A KYTC design project manager, construction section engineer, design consultant, contractor, or anyone else directly involved in the project (e.g. right of way agent, environmental coordinator) may submit a project for consideration in the DPD pilot program. The DPD Core Team reviews submissions and uses selection criteria to determine if a project will be added to the pilot program. Criteria factored into selections include project type, workforce capacity, and District Project Team interest.
Once project stakeholders express interest in pursuing DPD, potential DPD objectives are discussed between the District Project Team and the DPD Core Team. Specific DPD objectives for each pilot project should address the broader goals of the DPD Initiative as well as KYTC’s mission and vision.
Once a project is selected for DPD, the DPD Core Team and Project Team, with assistance from KTC researchers, develop implementation plans, which are living documents used to track individual pilot project objectives, progress, and details. Challenges and successes are noted. Table 1 summarizes the content of implementation plans.
Table 1 Implementation Plan Structure and Content | |
---|---|
Section | Content |
Title Page |
|
Project Description, Location and Scope |
|
Milestones and Schedules |
|
Project Team |
Documents each team member’s name, role, contact information, and goal(s) they are responsible for. The project team list is divided into the following categories:
|
Goals |
|
Affected Partners and Processes |
|
Special Notes or Contract Terms |
|
Software and Equipment Inventory |
|
Outcomes |
|
Terminology and References |
|
Appendices |
|
DPD will eventually impact all aspects of KYTC, but the initial focus has been on the relationship between design and construction. Traditionally, the Cabinet has followed a relatively linear model of project development where design staff complete their work and then hand off the project to construction personnel. However, DPD provides an opportunity for a more dynamic relationship between design and construction staff, where construction staff are involved in design and design staff play a greater role in construction. This dynamic facilitates bidirectional communication, which is valuable for ensuring broader user needs are addressed.
Transitioning to digital delivery will impact all KYTC stakeholders. To ensure everyone is prepared, subcommittees focused on different subject-matter areas have been established. These subcommittees will provide guidance to divisions and on the overall DPD Initiative. Subcommittees currently include:
- Construction
- Design (includes Drainage Design)
- Environmental
- Level of Development
- Right of Way
- Surveying and Mapping
- Utilities
Each subcommittee includes KYTC staff, consultants, and stakeholders, and is chaired by a KYTC subject-matter expert. Subcommittees determine meeting frequency based on what goals they are pursuing and if their expertise is needed to weigh policy changes and recommendations. They interact with one another and offer recommendations to the DPD core team and KYTC leadership, so that the DPD Initiative remains practical, and user driven. As the DPD process continues to be expanded, additional subcommittees will be established to guide the decision-making based on user needs.
U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration. (2021). Advancing BIM for Infrastructure National Strategic Roadmap.
U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration. (2022). Building Information Modeling (BIM) for Infrastructure.
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Digital Project Delivery Website.
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and Kentucky Transportation Center. (2023). Digital Project Delivery Video.
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and Kentucky Transportation Center. (2024). Digital Project Delivery Video – Construction.