Smart roads: design will be in BIM

Roads and motorways will become smart roads and on-road trials of automated vehicles are starting. The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Graziano Delrio, has signed the Ministerial Decree implementing Article 1, paragraph 72, of Law no. 205 of 27 December 2017 (2018 Budget Law), which authorises trials of technological solutions to adapt the Italian infrastructure network to new smart services and to automated vehicles.

The Smart Road decree aims to improve the national road network through its gradual digital transformation, so that it can communicate with new-generation connected vehicles, also with a view to enabling the use of the most advanced levels of automated driving assistance, and to improve and ease traffic flow and reduce road accidents.

The decree therefore provides for the works needed for high bit-rate data communication (e.g. fibre), coverage of the entire road infrastructure with routing connection services to the data communication network, a system of Wi-Fi hotspots for the connectivity of citizens' devices, located at least in all service and parking areas, and a system to detect traffic and weather conditions and provide medium- and short-term forecasts and an estimate or forecast for subsequent periods. On the basis of the data collected, the system will then offer content for advanced travel information services to users, allowing re-routing where needed.

BIM support, the decree states, is essential for setting up a data management container for topographical data, point clouds (PC), laser scanner surveys for intensive densification data acquisition, meshes, etc.

All the information produced in formats that are not necessarily interconnected must be harmonised in content and in IT architecture. The data can be reprocessed to generate the digital terrain model, made up of a series of surfaces (elevation models generated by tessellation and triangulation).

From these (and other) base data, it is possible to arrive at the digital reconstruction of the three-dimensional alignment of the road.

In practice, working in stages on two-dimensional elements leads to the creation of a three-dimensional model. The 3D model therefore makes it possible to visualise the infrastructure, and the BIM platform highlights its relationships with the surrounding environment.

The works will be carried out first (by 2025) on infrastructure belonging to the TEN-T network (Trans-European Transport Network) and, in any case, on the whole motorway network.

Subsequently (by 2030), further services will be activated: diversion of traffic flows in the event of serious accidents or obstructions; intervention on average speeds to prevent or resolve congestion; suggested trajectories and lanes; dynamic access management; and management of parking and refuelling (with particular reference to electric charging).

Gradually, the services will be extended to the whole SNIT network (Sistema Nazionale Integrato dei Trasporti, the national integrated transport system), as redefined by the annex to the 2017 DEF (Economic and Financial Document), “Connettere l'Italia” (Connecting Italy).

All the works will also be planned and carried out immediately in the case of new infrastructure, or of existing infrastructure undergoing upgrading or technological, construction or functional innovation.

The cost of the works will be borne by the concession holder or the infrastructure operator.

The same decree allows the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport to authorise on-road trials of automated vehicles. In particular, it identifies who may apply for authorisation (the manufacturer of the vehicle equipped with automated driving technology, as well as universities and public and private research bodies), the assessment to be carried out, how the authorisation is granted and the checks to which the trial activity is subject, to ensure that trials are carried out in conditions of complete safety.

Read the full article here: http://www.edilportale.com/news/2018/03/normativa/smart-road-firmato-il-decreto-da-2-milioni-di-euro-la-progettazione-sara-bim_62815_15.html

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