4D visualization of highway construction projects

Visualization of transportation projects has been shown to be a very effective way of communicating information between interested project parties [1]. In reviewed applications, visualization has been used primarily for communicating information on the geometric design, or as photorealistic representations that place trasportation projects within their existing or envisioned built or natural context. A review of examples of transportation visualization also indicates that visualization methods are mostly application specific. This paper focuses on the use of visualization during the construction process of highway projects to facilitate collaborative decision-making on construction scheduling and traffic planning. For the visualization of construction scheduling and traffic planning a 4D technology that makes use of a comprehensive 3D project database is proposed. The same 3D database can be also used for the development of photo-realistic animations that can facilitate the dissemination of traffic measures information to the traveling public during construction. This approach has been used during the construction of a section of a large-scale highway interchange project in Dallas, Texas.