InEight, the project technology expert, played a critical role in HDR, a specialist in engineering, architecture, environmental and construction services, winning one of four coveted 2017 buildingSMART International (bSI) Awards. This awards program recognizes projects that use tools and open standards developed by the buildingSMART International community to overcome interoperability challenges within the industry.

HDR was honored in the operations and maintenance category for the development of an open-technology database that will be used by the New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA) for the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge in New York. This bridge is being designed and built by Tappan Zee Constructors, LLC (TZC), with HDR as the lead designer. The new $4 billion eight-lane bridge will replace the existing Tappan Zee Bridge for the NYSTA. InEight’s solution is being used on the project to ensure the interoperability of all required project models for the bridge and to automate critical processes needed to deliver a contractually-mandated asset information model to the NYSTA.

From the beginning, the NYSTA, TZC and HDR took an innovative approach to the turnover deliverables for the project, which required the digital delivery of the bridge models, including comprehensive as-built project information. This meant that hundreds of thousands of connections needed to be made between disparate model elements and project documents, such as as-built drawings, mill certifications, inspection reports, nonconformance reports, daily work reports and construction photos.

HDR turned to InEight and the company’s asset information modeling solution, InEight® Model Suite. InEight provided the HDR team with the common data environment needed to create the open-technology database. With InEight’s solution, HDR was able to use the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) file format to connect more than 500 disparate models used for the project. To date, InEight’s solution has been used to create more than 400,000 automatic connections between project data and models, and will establish and maintain more than 1 million document connections at project turnover.

InEight automated the previous time-consuming manual process of creating connections between model elements and required project documentation. It is estimated that this automated approach will save HDR approximately 11 man-years of time by project completion and allow the team to deliver a truly digital asset information model.

“The New York State Thruway Authority and TZC had an incredible vision of how construction project information could be used to help with bridge maintenance and operations,” said Connor Christian, HDR’s director of digital implementation services. “At first, it seemed to be an insurmountable task to provide the NYSTA with a database of all as-built project information, especially since it would involve manually connecting a million documents and managing hundreds of model files. InEight had the perfect solution for this challenge. InEight gave us the ability to quickly and easily manage models from different design systems for the deliverable and automate the connections to all required project documentation.”  

InEight helped HDR meet the asset turnover requirements for the project. Its solutions also provide flexibility for the asset owner once the project is completed to make connections to other information, creating a single data source throughout the life cycle of the asset.

“The use of IFC as the standard for open data exchange on this project ensures our client’s asset information will be maintained for decades as the bridge remains in operation,” added Christian.        

“Innovators, such as HDR, TZC and the New York State Thruway Authority, are taking BIM to a new level, and InEight is proud to have been involved in the success of the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge project,” said Andy Kayhanfar, InEight’s vice president of product management. “This project is a powerful example of the application of the IFC standard in the infrastructure and bridge market sectors. InEight Model Suite provides a sophisticated system that improves interoperability and enriches models with business information for streamlined delivery in the operations and maintenance phase of a project. We’re looking forward to finding new ways for stakeholders on this project to continue to build on the wealth of easily searchable data on the bridge.”

InEight Model Suite provides project stakeholders with a unique view of models connected with business information, providing the ability to confidently collect, coordinate, collaborate and capture project information. It is uniquely designed to easily scale for projects of all sizes.

Visit ineight.com to learn more about InEight’s proven solutions that provide the real-time information and insights needed to minimize risks, improve operational efficiency, control project costs and collaborate easily with all project stakeholders. These solutions span projects from design to estimate and from field execution to turnover.