By Troy Dahlin, Contributing Author
The roads around the nation’s capital have some of the worst congestion in the country. Interstate 66 in Northern Virginia routinely ranks among the main offenders — or at least it did.
With up to 200,000 vehicles on the roadway a day, drivers on the thoroughfare in Northern Virginia experience eight to 10 hours of congestion daily.
In 2016, Virginia leaders knew they needed to hit congestion head-on, and that success required a bold project. They embarked on the Transform I-66 Outside the Beltway project.
This multi-modal mega-project ranks among the country’s largest public-private partnership infrastructure projects this century.
To complete the project, Virginia officials turned to I-66 Express Mobility Partners, a consortium of Cintra, Meridiam, and APG, and design-build contractor FAM Construction, a joint venture of Ferrovial Construction and Allan Myers. I-66 Express Mobility Partners financed, designed, built, maintained, and operated express lanes on Interstate 66 Outside the Beltway.
Officials tapped $3.7 billion in private investment to fund the project, including roughly $2.2 billion in design-build costs and an up-front $579 million concession-fee payment for additional transportation enhancements along the corridor.
The funding also included an $800 million transit subsidy over the 50-year contract with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) through 2066 and $350 million for future corridor improvements.
A Modern Approach
The project added 22.5 miles of express lanes along I-66 between Interstate 495, the Capital Beltway, and the western terminus at State Route 29 in Gainesville, Va. It required 12 rebuilt or modified interchanges and the renovation or construction of 63 bridges, including 13 at the State Route 28 interchange and 11 at the Interstate-495 interchange.
The project also included operational and safety upgrades at key interchanges, auxiliary lanes between interchanges, new and expanded commuter bus service, 18 miles of a shared-use path along and near I-66, more than 4,000 new park-and-ride spaces and other connections throughout the corridor.
During the project, workers installed 2.2 million square feet of new and replacement noise walls, 2.3 million square feet of retaining wall, 57 million pounds of steel and laid 3.1 million tons of asphalt, with more than 1 million tons laid in 2021.
None of this work would have been possible without technology.
No Technology, No Road
The modern road project isn’t built on a foundation of asphalt and bridge piers; it’s built on intelligence, and gathering intelligence relies on constant data collection by workers at every project phase.
As with many public infrastructure projects, the I-66 overhaul would not have been possible without the latest jobsite technology, particularly reality capture.
Reality capture has revolutionized construction by creating detailed digital twins of physical assets. It empowers teams to quickly capture and analyze spatial data.
This data provides a deeper — and more complete — understanding of site limitations and obstacles, making it a critical component of the modern jobsite. It also allows teams to improve how they track progress, manage schedules, and stay on budget while ensuring their projects are built to specifications.
This technology has also enabled companies to address the persistent labor shortage. As companies must attract younger workers and provide training opportunities for current employees, incorporating digital technology into projects extends the asset’s lifespan and aligns with the trend toward technology-focused job sites.
Using reality capture technologies for BIM modeling, verification, and as-built documentation is a benchmark for predictive maintenance.
Reality capture solutions like laser scanning, mobile mapping, and UAV systems can help a single team member collect site data quickly while minimizing the risk to safety. It also enhances efficiency by organizing the workforce and valuable resources, boosting companies’ profits.
“Reality capture is amazing,” said Gabriel Jimenez, survey manager for FAM Construction. “I won’t ever go back to traditional methods of data capture.
“My dream is that every time my crews capture and register point clouds, we can share that information in near-real time with the rest of the company in the cloud. I can imagine having a connection to the cloud and clicking a button and flying through the project in near-real time, with the data fully updated for stakeholders and investors.”
At the Forefront of Reality Capture
The teams that comprised FAM Construction recognized the power of deploying reality capture to streamline construction. The FAM team turned to reality capture to replace GPS, which it previously used for tracking but wasn’t as reliable and didn’t always result in a complete picture of the project.
While FAM Construction has witnessed significant benefits from reality capture, the team envisions an even more interconnected and data-rich future — one that will live on beyond the FAM team’s efforts.
On the I-66 project, the team used laser scanning to document the construction process, sending scans of walls, bridges and watersheds to the office staff. These efforts allowed them to monitor progress and verify as-builts against the design.
The team aimed to create comprehensive 3D visualizations of the job site, which can be combined with data sources, including design models and photographs. This immersive experience provided stakeholders with up-to-date information to make informed decisions efficiently.
The project’s complexities necessitated FAM Construction to track quantity estimates of key materials every day and produce a monthly report on overall project development. This ensured they didn’t use more materials than required, eliminating waste.
The team first positioned a GPS control target for each scanning setup to accomplish this, then proceeded to scan the stockpile volumes to determine their depletion. Following each scan, they had a point cloud of the area with accuracy down to the millimeter level, allowing for precise volume and earthwork calculations.
Cross-Team Collaboration
Reality capture through laser scanning creates abundant data that helps with cross-team collaboration and increases productivity.
“It’s impossible to do what we did in this project without reality capture,” Jimenez said. “With the scans, you have everything. You can see it, and the person in the office understands it perfectly because they can see it in the point cloud. It’s so fast and powerful.”
In an industry where digital transformation is becoming increasingly prevalent, the team stayed ahead by deploying the latest reality capture offerings. The solutions enhanced efficiency, reduced costs and improved collaboration while helping mitigate the labor shortage by allowing team members to learn how to collect data quickly.
The range of laser scanners enables the safe capture of data in previously inaccessible or hazardous areas, which would be challenging to measure with traditional methods.
Reality capture enhances also enables firms to operate even when experienced surveyors and field technicians are difficult to find. Reality capture keeps the office people out of the field and brings the field to the office.
“The technology is so easy to use that we can hire young people right from college and quickly train them to operate the scanner and collect the data,” Jimenez said. “Digital transformation is at a boiling point right now in construction. You can’t fall behind. It’s critical for the business to be competitive. The efficiency of our process depends on the ability to work with current and accurate information.”
Results
The final section of the 66 Express Lanes opened ahead of schedule, though construction of some elements, including the final interchange improvements and the shared-use path paralleling the corridor, continued after traffic started flowing again.
The 66 Express Lanes boast two new express lanes for eastbound and westbound travel and three reconstructed general-purpose lanes. These lanes feature seamless pavement, dedicated access ramps and median space for future transit infrastructure.
An advanced dynamic tolling system monitors current traffic volumes and adjusts rates to manage demand and maintain efficient traffic flow.
The new express lanes have helped transform this critical Northern Virginia artery, relieving congestion, improving safety and providing more predictable travel times. Today, 2,000 to 4,000 more people move along the corridor per hour.
These benefits were possible thanks to technology that is making the jobsite cutting edge.
Technology adoption is increasing throughout the construction industry, impacting every aspect of the jobsite and offering critical benefits. Integrating reality capture technology from the start of a project enhances efficiency and ensures timely completion.
Executives prioritize practical uses of new technology to protect resources and ensure investments yield returns. Real-time data capture affects every stage of the construction process, providing valuable insights and improving safety.
Smart digital realities can save time, reduce waste, improve industry sustainability and, when done properly, help reduce congestion. RB
Troy Dahlin serves as the vice president for the Heavy Construction Segment of Leica Geosystems, part of Hexagon, in North America.
