Sustainable Land Development Today - October 2008 - (Page 37)

A graphic rendition of the NTTA Southwest Parkway Interchange in Ft Worth, Texas. as thoroughfares, creating congested and unsafe conditions. Without major improvements, including the disruptive reconstruction of the current roadway network, the existing system will continue to be inadequate to handle this tremendous burden on the region’s transportation infrastructure. It is estimated that some $4.2 billon are lost annually due to traffic congestion in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. By 2030, the cost is estimated to increase to $6.6 billion. Back on Track In 1962, the need for a direct and continuous thoroughfare to the central Fort Worth business district was first identified in the Fort Worth Metropolitan Area Thoroughfare Plan. Despite the apparent need, funding shortages since the mid1970s have prevented the project from moving forward. However, a tri-party agreement signed in 2000 between the City of Fort Worth, North Texas Toll way Authority (NTTA) and Texas Department of Transportation (TX DOT) brought life to the 8.2-mile Southwest Parkway project, which will connect Fort Worth to the 13-mile Chisholm Trail project in Johnson County. The Southwest Parkway is a proposed six-lane toll way with an estimated construction cost of $925 million to be built and maintained by the North Texas Toll way Authority and Texas Department of Transportation. By providing a direct and continuous southwest-to-central major traffic arterial, the residents of Tarrant County will reap the benefits of: I Improved regional mobility, air quality and safety I Improved response time of public safety and emergency vehicles I Reduced burden on the local transportation system I Incorporation of context sensitive design with mobility goals I Infrastructure that complements Fort Worth’s Trinity River Vision Plan Treading lightly on the old trail is a high priority, as evidenced by the involvement of the Citizens’ Advisory Group. Having facilitated ongoing com- munity input, its efforts led to the Southwest Parkway Nature and Character Plan, which would be included in the Final Environmental Impact Statement and Corridor Master Plan. These documents specified the need for a transportation facility with a visually narrow cross section, increased plantings and bridge and wall treatments that were sensitive to the natural and constructed environment. In January 2006, NTTA chose HDR Engineering to design the new, five-level interchange of Southwest Parkway with State Highway 183 and Interstate 20. This interchange has an estimated construction cost of $305 million and represents the largest of five segments comprising this project. HDR’s segment required the design of two miles of six new lanes on the Southwest Parkway with localized frontage roads, more than one mile of reconstruction for SH 183 with new frontage roads, and direct connectors to I-20. The project included reconstruction of one cross-street underpass, nine direct connectors and 15 slip ramps. Over half of the construction cost is related to bridges. The interchange project was designed to meet both NTTA criteria and the Fort Worth District of TX DOT. calculations, spreadsheets, word documents and email correspondence. Building on previous successes and lessons learned from other large-scale work, the project management team implemented the necessary infrastructure to allow efficient work sharing. Improvements were made to HDR’s infrastructure by adding greater network capacity and wide area network acceleration appliances at key design offices, thereby providing faster file access to the entire design team. Also, a greater emphasis was placed on providing enhanced technical support to Project Wise users, including the sub-consultants. This was reflected in the addition of dedicated system engineers and CAD application specialists. Additionally, HDR provided training to teaming partners since most of their users were not accustomed to working in a real-time collaborative environment. It is not uncommon to supplement a local design office with additional resources to perform the 30, 60 or 100 percent design on large, complex projects. But the successful collaborative efforts employed on this project allowed HDR to leverage multiple-office resources without having to reassign employees to project offices. The philosophy was, “We move the work, not the people.” Ambitious Scope Requires Collaborative Effort To meet NTTA’s aggressive 18-month deadline for the Southwest Parkway Interchange, from the notice to proceed to final design, HDR would have to mobilize and integrate a seamless national design team of 134 engineers, CAD designers and administrative staff from 12 offices as well as 40-plus team members from four sub-consultants. Project Wise, by Bentley Systems, was selected as the collaborative tool and document management system (DMS) for all 20,000 project files. This included not only CAD files but all engineering Same Trail, New Hope More than a hundred years have past since the days of the Chisholm Trail, but the dust hasn’t settled on the beaten trail. But just as it did back then, this historic trail is helping the state of Texas and the populations of the Dallas/Fort Worth area improve its economic outlook and, more importantly, its quality of life. SLDT About the author: John. Quintero is professional associate / senior civil designer with HDR. His responsibility includes assisting and training on the effective use of Project Wise. He can be reached at (972) 960-4404, or jquinter@hdrinc.com. www.SLDTonline.com 37 http://www.SLDTonline.com

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Sustainable Land Development Today - October 2008

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