Vancouver Transportation Network Project Captures Autodesk BIM Experience Award

H5M Uses Building Information Modeling Process and AutoCAD Civil 3D to Help Tackle One of the Largest Transportation Projects in North America.

SAN RAFAEL, Calif - Autodesk, Inc has announced that H5M has been selected to receive the latest Autodesk BIM Experience Award. H5M is a design joint-venture team comprising engineers from Hatch Mott MacDonald (HMM) and the MMM Group.

The H5M team is being honored for its innovative application of a building information modeling (BIM) process for the $2.46 billion (CDN) Port Mann/Highway 1 (PMH1) project for the Ministry of Transportation of British Columbia. The H5M team is also being recognized for its use of Autodesk software for BIM, including AutoCAD Civil 3D software, to help create a sustainable solution designed to manage traffic congestion and accommodate growth through 2031 and beyond.

Initiated in 2007, the PMH1 project is part of the Ministry of Transportation's Gateway Program, which is designed to address current and future transportation needs in the greater Vancouver area. The project is one of the largest transportation network projects currently under way in North America, and involves the construction of a new Port Mann Bridge and widening 37 kilometers of Highway 1, the Trans-Canada Highway linking Vancouver to the rest of British Columbia and Canada. Other onshore work includes reconstruction of 13 interchanges, construction or rehabilitation of more than 42 bridges, and the reconstruction of a complex highway interchange at the end of the Port Mann Bridge. Design and construction are expected to take five years, and must accommodate existing traffic. As of August 2009, the project design is about 40 percent complete.

"BIM and a shared core AutoCAD Civil 3D model have helped boost our productivity, enhanced our design coordination and decision making, and improved conflict checking and overall multi-discipline collaboration," said Chris Mealing, design manager at H5M. "It has made it possible for our design team to remain ahead of the contractor's schedule on this exceptionally complex highway and bridge project. Our success to date is also due to training and implementation services from IMAGINiT Technologies and ongoing support by the Autodesk Consulting team."

H5M's BIM Experience

In 2008, the H5M joint-venture committed to using a BIM process for the entire PMH1 project. The H5M team currently has more than 60 licenses of AutoCAD Civil 3D, supported by numerous AutoCAD software licenses, for its work on this fast-track project. To date, applying a BIM approach and using AutoCAD Civil 3D software has enabled:

* Development of an integrated project model to support detailed design
* Efficient design evaluation and evolution
* Improved conflict identification and resolution
* Enhanced project documentation and visualizations
* Constructor support, particularly for survey, quantities and machine control

The Autodesk BIM Experience Award celebrates professionals and educators around the world who are helping to drive industry transformation through building information modeling (BIM). Autodesk honors organizations for their innovation, leadership, and excellence in implementing BIM with the help of core BIM products, including one or more of the Autodesk Revit platform products and/or AutoCAD Civil 3D software, and other Autodesk products that complement the BIM process.

BIM is an integrated process that allows architects, engineers and builders to explore a project digitally before it's built. Coordinated, reliable information is used throughout the process to design innovative projects, accurately visualize appearance for better communication, and simulate real-world performance for better understanding of important characteristics such as cost, scheduling and environmental impact. In addition to the PMH1 project, other opportunities around BIM in British Columbia include a Digital Cities pilot currently underway between the City of Vancouver and Autodesk. This initiative is helping to build out an intelligent collaborative city and regional model to support a greater number of BIM or "model-based" projects and planning efforts in the future.