The Montrose Interchange project was initiated to replace an existing at-grade T-junction on the N4 highway, improving traffic mobility, safety, and the Mbombela province’s economy and tourism. 

Positioned between two rivers amid steep valleys between mountains, the project presented difficult terrain for implementing the new high-standard, free-flow interchange on a short timeline with no available survey data.  

Bidding for the contract, SMEC realized that their traditional, manual 2D strategies would not suffice to meet the project challenges and requirements to use much of the existing infrastructure. 
   
SMEC selected ContextCapture, now called iTwin Capture to develop a reality mesh of the existing terrain and infrastructure, Bentley LumenRT to present their conceptual design, and OpenRoads Designer to facilitate integration with the bridge team’s modeling software. As a result, they were able to: 

• Win the design contract and deliver a workable design in record time.  

• Use corridor modeling tools to enable accurate earthworks and material quantity calculations. 

• Reduce the carbon footprint of the project.  

• Save approximately 2,500 hours in design time. 
• Reduce design costs by an estimated ZAR 2.5 million.