ABSTRACT
Australia’s freight task, and to a lesser extent in New Zealand, is growing at a rapid rate due to unprecedented population growth, coupled with increased demand from our trading partners in Asia and rapid changes in technology, e-commerce, and consumer behavior. A significant proportion of freight is transported using the road network and to remain competitive this network needs to facilitate fast, efficient, and effective access. This is a significant challenge with an ageing bridge network, regularly experiencing extreme climatic conditions and the freight industry constantly pushing to increase access and allowable loads.
Expectations on road infrastructure managers like Federal, State and Territory Governments, local government and private operators is very high and has become heightened even further with scrutiny via social and other forms of media. At the same time, there are significant pressures on government to provide greater level of service for other infrastructure they manage like schools, hospitals and law enforcement.
The above challenges create significant pressure on road infrastructure managers to minimize spend on the management of the network while attempting to meet the high expectations of the community. The use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) for bridges is seen as one of the tools that can assist road infrastructure managers in meeting the above challenges. To date its uptake has been limited with some authorities adopting BIM for major bridge structures and on recent large-scale projects but wider adoption is very limited.
The BIM survey outlined in this paper is part of the work being conducted by Task Group 5.6 – BIM in Structure Management for the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE). This paper will explore the adoption of BIM across Australia and New Zealand and what is required for more significant adoption.
