Civil BIM Delivery on the M1/M3/Gateway Merge (Pacific Motorway)

Watch a presentation given by Peter Ryan (Jacobs, Technical Director, Digital Engineering) at our sold-out 2018 12d Technical Forum. Learn about the challenges, workflows and benefits of designing the M1/M3/Gateway project under Civil BIM, and how 12d Model and 12d Synergy enabled this.

What is the M1/M3/Gateway Merge?

This is a BIM project being led by Jacobs’ 12d Civil teams. Where some of the bigger projects may rely on multiple products, M1/M3 allowed Jacobs the opportunity to use 12d Model as their primary authoring tool, and really test the benefits BIM promises to deliver, and apply it to a more traditional Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) highway project.

Where is the M1/M3/Gateway Merge?

The project is located south of Brisbane, at the intersection of the M1, M3 and Gateway Motorways. The M3 is the main arterial out of Brisbane to the south, while the Gateway is the primary bypass of Brisbane – it takes all the traffic from the Sunshine Coast and ultimately connects to the Bruce Highway in the north. The M1 services all destinations to the south, including the Gold Coast, connecting to motorways all the way down to Sydney.

What does the project entail?

The project includes the widening of the southbound carriageway to three lanes for a section of 3.8km, as well as the realignment of that carriageway to provide a five-lane cross-section where the Gateway Motorway comes in. This will allow for future works on the northbound carriageway. They are also building a new bridge over Underwood Road – this is being constructed adjacent to the existing bridge and, when finished, will span the five traffic lanes. They are closing a bus entry from the existing Eight Mile Plains busway station, and constructing a new bus on-ramp at School Road. Throughout the site, Managed Motorways Technology is being used. The project is being delivered as a design and construct, with Jacobs providing all the design services to the principal contractor, Lendlease. 12d Model has been utilised for all the civil design elements of the project.

What are they trying to achieve?

The principle aim of this project is to reduce congestion and improve safety at the junction of all these Motorways. This project is the third BIM Pilot project for TMR. The Lendlease and Jacobs BIM offering has been developed from experience delivering recent major projects in South East Queensland, including the Gateway Upgrade North (GUN) and the Kingsford Smith Drive Upgrade (KSD).

What roles are involved?

The first thing the team did upon commencing this project was to define new roles related to the BIM work that was required. Peter Ryan was introduced to 12d Model in the 90s, so he was the natural choice for one of the Digital Engineering Leads, responsible for defining processes and workflows. They also assigned the roles of Discipline Model Manager (responsible for coordinating model authoring and output) and BIM Manager (responsible for model federation). The BIM Execution Plan aligns with the objectives of each party (Jacobs, Lendlease, and TMR).

TMR’s BIM Objectives

understanding what is reasonably achieveable for designers and contractors using current technology, and what challenges they face
assessing whether the requirements of the BIM Functional Spec are appropriate, and whether any would pose an unnecessary cost
continuously improving clarity in the BIM specifications through collaboration with industry partners
developing an internal TMR skill set for electronic delivery and review
assisting the industry to deliver the ultimate TMR objective of a LOD500 object-based as-built model.

Lendlease’s BIM Objectives

avoiding duplicate modelling effort for construction setout
identifying clashes before construction
using the 3D model to assess safety during construction
educating the construction team to understand the scope and status of work in progress
using the model to assess constructability and simulate 4D sequencing scenarios.

Jacobs’ BIM Objectives

collaborative 3D coordinated design for all disciplines
use of 3D models to review design in the virtual environment
providing string setout to suit construction requirements
providing confidence in the quality of electronic data handover
embedding BIM workflows as ‘Business as Usual’.

Inherent to this were challenges such as balancing increased upfront design effort while delivering to program and budget.

To find out how the Jacobs team overcame this and other challenges, watch Peter’s presentation today!