Tying Up The Artery

by Susan McDonald, Technology Writer; Juhl Communications, Morrison, CO,


Serial Information: Civil Engineering—ASCE, 1993, Vol. 63, Issue 11, Pg. 62-64


Document Type: Feature article

Abstract:

After six years, preliminary design is almost complete on one of the nation's largest, and most complicated, public works project, the Boston Central Artery project. At an estimated cost of $4.9 billion, it will revolutionize travel through Boston. When the project is completed sometime in the next century, the antiquated six-lane elevated freeway that bisects the city will have been replaced with 7.5 miles of eight-to-ten-lane highway, about half of which will run underneath downtown Boston and the Harbor. It will more than double the city's traffic capacity and will reunite several of Boston's neighborhoods with the rest of the city. Under control of the Massachusetts Highway Department, urban designers, architects and engineers from more than 100 contractors, subcontractors, and government agencies have been retained as part of this massive undertaking. Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, as the joint venture management consultant to MHD, has created a centralized information technology system called the Integrated Design System to control all phases of the Central Artery Project management, architecture, engineering and construction. This system consists of a common data base of maps, designs and corresponding information that can be shared by everyone involved with the project. Applications span the technology spectrum from 3-D modeling and simulation to geographic information systems and drawing retrieval.

Subject Headings: Project management | Information systems | Three-dimensional models | Consulting services | Traffic capacity | Integrated systems | Highways and roads

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