Page 78 - BENTLEY SYSTEMS PR REPORT - NOVEMBER 2023

Well, working across organizations, working across supply chains, one of our favorite examples
is the Elk River project in Minnesota where they needed to convert a highway into an expanded
freeway with upgraded interchanges, bridge, and underground utilities. By using digital twins
and being able to collaborate really saved them a lot of time and a lot of money. The key with
the digital twin is making sure that everybody has the most current, and the single source of
truth in current information. Making sure that they’re not working off of old plans or not working
off of old data. The most exciting feature of a digital twin is, that you’re constantly getting
information and you’re constantly refreshing that information. Data is of the utmost importance
here and that too the right data. With bad data, you’re going to make bad decisions. That’s the
key and that’s what we really see with digital twins, Improved decision making and better
outcomes at the end.
Can you share a success story from last year’s projects that made it as one of the finalist?
Well, all of those projects have success written on them. But I can talk about the Elk River Street
Bridge – Elk River Expressway project which I spoke about earlier. MNDOT was using a
construction manager/general contractor (CMGC) delivery method, and that meant everyone –
MNDOT, the contractor Ames and the design firm WSB – needed to have access to the most
current information. By using digital twins, and a collaborative environment, they were able to
use that information to make better decisions. The highway is in a congested area where people
head north for their cabins and vacation homes and people were very unhappy about the traffic
delays caused by the many grade level crossings. So, by flying a drone along the site corridor,
they were able to gather data, put it in a reality mesh as the base for the design to make better
decisions. One of the things they noticed was that there’s a lot of utility work that needs to be
done but without impacting people too much. So, they got all that work done and then they went
back and started to rip up the existing roadway and start construction. And all along the way,
the local constituents and the supply chain, had access to information about the project. They
used LumenRT to show the public what they were doing. And this is another thing I think is just
brilliant that a lot of our users do in these projects. They used LumenRT to be able to go and
show the public the plans and project status and how would benefit the community. This
collaborative approach saved the project significant time and money by providing better
meeting presentations, improving collaboration and reducing design iterations.

https://techitupme.com/bentley-systems-simplifying-complex-infrastructure-building-with-digital-twins/