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Dive brief:
- The Federal Transit Administration has awarded the University of Cincinnati approximately $5.1 million to promote the adoption of digital platforms which improve delivery and reduce traffic construction costsaccording to year Press release of October 28.
- The program, which is funded by the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, will test digital systems that manage the entire construction life cycle of transit infrastructure projects, which the FTA claims it will increase efficiency and improve project outcomes.
- Funding from FTA’s Accelerating Advanced Digital Construction Management Systems program will allow transit agencies to test digital construction technologies and capabilities in real-world construction project environments, determine feasibility, understand impacts, and determine the utility of results, according to the statement.
Diving knowledge:
The FTA selected the University of Cincinnati after a competitive process, according to the release. The institution has extensive research experience and technical expertise. The research team will include university faculty along with staff from the Southwest Ohio Regional Transportation Authority, the Butler County Regional Transit Authority and Akron Metro.
Many transit agencies have implemented elements of construction management such as program management systems, online documents and assets, but few have adopted a solution that integrates all functions and processes for an infrastructure program, according to the ‘FTA.
Examples of ADCMS technology include cloud computing, artificial intelligence, data integration, modeling and simulation, and real-time data processing to streamline and coordinate work processes in an organization throughout the project .
“Our goal is to help transit agencies deliver projects on time, on task and on budget,” FTA Deputy Administrator Veronica Vanterpool said in the statement. “Today’s selection will help us do that by improving efficiency and providing tools that reduce construction delays and costs and enable workers to get jobs done faster, safer, smarter and more accurately “.
The FTA program is not the only one incentivizing stakeholders to test and adopt contech in transportation and infrastructure projects. Another agency of the Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration, distributed $17 million to projects in eight states through its own ADCMS program.
Officials will use the results of the demonstration to develop a guide for other transit agencies with best practices for planning and deploying advanced digital construction management solutions.
