Atkins Floyd Hill Project Named Bentley Systems 2023 Going Digital Awards in Infrastructure Finalist
DENVER, Colo. – Atkins, a member of the SNC‑Lavalin Group, has been named a finalist for the Bentley Systems 2023 Going Digital Awards in Infrastructure for its use of Bentley’s tech stack digital design software tools on the Colorado Department of Transportation’s (CDOT) Interstate 70 (I-70) Floyd Hill project. The Atkins team is designing safety and mobility enhancements along an eight-mile stretch of I-70 as the project’s Engineer of Record and lead designer. Winners will be announced on October 12th in Singapore. This is Atkins first nomination for the prestigious digital engineering award.
“We are honored to be nominated in the Roads and Highways category as early adapters to digital planning, design, engineering and project delivery innovations in our industry,” said Steve Morriss, President, Engineering Services, U.S., Atkins. “Organizationally we are integrating digital expertise with our decades of engineering excellence to enhance project design, strengthen our approach and planning, and guide our creativity, so that we can deliver innovative solutions for our clients beyond their expectations.”
The Floyd Hill project has been highlighted by CDOT and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as improving the economies of Colorado and the Nation. Relieving an interstate bottleneck reduces travel times for commercial traffic, local residents and tourists driving to nearby ski resorts and other destinations. Safety throughout this corridor will be drastically improved by improving design speeds and increasing stopping sight distance on horizontal curves. The project adds a westbound tolled Express Lane, an eastbound auxiliary lane, new bridges, improved interchange and frontage road access, wildlife passageways under the roadway, two air quality monitoring stations and a full reconstruction of a nearby trail. Construction is underway with project completion expected in 2028.
The use of Bentley technology and visualization software helped the team develop solutions to handle many site-specific challenges and constraints. Leveraging digital tools made it possible to mitigate impacts to the surrounding natural environment, built environment, local residents and other stakeholders while also providing a more efficient and cost-effective design.
“Deploying Bentley’s digital tools enabled seamless communication and coordination with external subconsultants leading to a reduction of hours worked by more than 50,000 and project costs by more than $7 million, helping us deliver exceptional value to our client,” said Donna Huey, Chief Digital Officer, Engineering Services, U.S., Atkins. “We were also able to automate 3D engineered model creation, allowing our team to quickly publish visualizations and receive stakeholder input at a much earlier stage of the design process to ensure all concerns are accounted for and addressed in our design.”
Atkins is transforming the design, delivery and operation of infrastructure projects, thanks to the experts in our own business and across the SNC-Lavalin Group with its world-leading knowledge in design, engineering, project management, sustainability and digital-transformation. Our consultants, engineers, technologists and project managers have helped clients reshape the world, with new ways of designing and building that make the lived environment work better for everyone for more than eight decades.
About Atkins
Atkins (www.atkinsglobal.com) is one of the world’s most respected design, engineering and project management consultancies, employing over 18,300 people across the UK, North America, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and Europe. We build long-term trusted partnerships to create a world where lives are enriched through the implementation of our ideas. You can view Atkins’ recent projects here.
About SNC-Lavalin
Founded in 1911, SNC-Lavalin is a fully integrated professional services and project management company with offices around the world dedicated to engineering a better future for our planet and its people. We create sustainable solutions that connect people, technology and data to design, deliver and operate the most complex projects. We deploy global capabilities locally to our clients and deliver unique end-to-end services across the whole life cycle of an asset including consulting, advisory & environmental services, intelligent networks & cybersecurity, design & engineering, procurement, project & construction management, operations & maintenance, decommissioning and capital. – and delivered to clients in key strategic sectors such as Engineering Services, Nuclear, Operations & Maintenance and Capital. News and information are available at www.snclavalin.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
