I-26 / SC-27 Interchange Reconfiguration

3 designscompared in one interactive model at SCDOT's first public meeting using 3D Visualization.

Client: South Carolina Department of Transportation
Location: South Carolina
Product: 3D Visualization
Published: 2019

Introduction

The South Carolina Department of Transportation is conducting an environmental assessment to widen approximately six miles of highway I-26 near Ridgeville, SC to improve traffic operations, accommodate projected volumes, and address existing geometric deficiencies. "With all the industry that is all around Ridgeville right now, we've got to have it." said Robby Robbins, chairman of the SCDOT Commission and commissioner for the state's First Congressional District in a news interview. "Volvo being on the other side (of town) and there's more coming—so yea, we're going to have to have the ability to move people in this area."

The Proposed Improvements

The proposed project includes adding a third lane in each direction, replacing two mainline bridges, reconfiguring the SC-27 interchange, and various other improvements. Prime design consultant Mead & Hunt of Charleston, SC developed three alternative designs for the SC-27 interchange:

An expanded rural diamond interchange
A partial cloverleaf configuration
A compressed diamond interchange with roundabouts

The Public Meeting

A public meeting was held in January, 2019 to present these designs to the public and solicit their feedback. To facilitate clear communication SCDOT and Mead & Hunt turned to RDV Systems to develop a virtual 3-D project visualization model showing the existing conditions and all three alternatives. "We saw that this portion of the project would be difficult to explain clearly with just plan sheets and aerial overlays. We needed a way to show each alternatively realistically and simulate multiple points-of-view", said Mead & Hunt project manager Dan Moses.

"With the RDV model, we were able to show the different designs in a fully interactive environment, create multiple poster boards images and simulate drive-throughs for the various configurations."

— Dan Moses, Senior Project Manager, Mead & Hunt

RDV began working on the 3-D model in mid-November 2018 and delivered the finalized model in January 2019. Early reviews of the model led to a number of design "tweaks" that were incorporated into the final version. Mead & Hunt and SCDOT used RDV's 123bim.com web collaboration system to create and share the presentation images and videos within the project team, and used RDV's Navigator desktop application to show the model in an interactive environment.