Project

The design for the fourth-ring superhighway project forms a loop around four other roads in the city of Zhengzhou in Henan, China. The expressway will be the primary thoroughfare that brings commuters from suburban areas into the center of downtown. The CNY 40 billion project will include two roads – one that is ground-level at a length of 93 kilometers and an elevated bridge roadway at a length of 63.6 kilometers, with a maximum speed of 80 kilometers an hour. Plans for the new extension include 27 interchanges, 21 bridges, and 34 rail nodes. The project team faced a short design timeline and needed to find a way to collaboratively work across a multidiscipline project team. To overcome these challenges and stay on schedule, Shenzhen Municipal Design & Research opted to implement 3D modeling technology rather than traditional 2D technology commonly used on road projects in China.  

Solution

Shenzhen Municipal Design & Research established a collaborative design platform to communicate with other design disciplines and stakeholders. The open environment enabled the team to use multilevel document architecture, as well as store and view project data to efficiently carry out the design. The collaborative work environment also allowed the team to work in real time with other designers in different locations. Moreover, the team used 3D modeling software to create a reality model with a 1-to-500 map accuracy covering a 120-kilometer-square area. The team then created a 3D model of the entire project to accurately reflect site conditions. The software also enabled the team to create a parametric member library for over 10 road model types, as well as overcome obstacles by modeling the variable cross-section bridges. Furthermore, the 3D modeling software helped the team create parametric units and complete hundreds of customized piers with varying height and sloping ratios.