The Challenge
Queensland Department of Main Roads was called upon to work
on the preliminary design for the upgrade of 12 kilometres of the Kennedy
Highway, which travels west from Cairns to Kuranda and on to Mareeba, linking
the coast to the tablelands.
The Solution
Passing over the Macalister Range and through the Wet Tropics World Heritage
Area, Queensland Main Roads created a virtual fly-over and drive-through and
selected views of the new highway for the first half of the project, which
included 28 of the 34 bridges.
The original terrain was constructed from laser airborne scanning (LiDAR data)
from a helicopter and then aerial photos were draped over the resulting
triangulation to realistically represent the existing scene.
The concept design of the new highway was done in 12d Model, and the bridges
modelled using super strings. Roadside barriers and vegetation were also
modelled in 12d Model.
The creation of the drive-through for the final section of the highway was later
completed, also with the aid of 12d Model software.
The Result
With the help of 12d Model software, the team was able to provide a realistic
impression of how the road and surrounding area would look after the completion
of the project and regrowth occurred, and to 'drive' along and 'fly' over the
highway on screen before it was constructed, allowing for accurate
conceptualisations and preventing costly errors.
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