UTILIZED SOFTWARE 

LumenRT, GeoStudio, OpenRoads, PLAXIS, MX Road

LOCATION 

Malaysia

ORGANIZATION/COMPANY 

Jabatan Kerja Raya Sarawak

In the coastal lowlands of Sarawak, Malaysia, Jabatan Kerja Raya set out to connect isolated communities across Samarahan, Sri Aman, and Betong with a 92-kilometer stretch of the Second Trunk Road. The ground itself resisted: peat up to nine meters deep, soft clay reaching forty, flood-prone terrain, protected water catchments, the Ulu Sebuyau National Park, and a dense web of live utilities. Conventional 2D design methods stalled early planning and coordination, and the traditional remedy — importing vast volumes of earth fill — would have carried an enormous environmental price.

The team chose a digital path instead. MX Road narrowed the LiDAR survey corridor from 300 meters to 60–100 meters and tested alignment options that steered the highway clear of both the national park and protected catchments. OpenRoads delivered 3D terrain modeling and automated clash detection, resolving utility conflicts before crews reached the ground and safeguarding the clean water lines serving nearby towns. PLAXIS and GeoStudio validated an unconventional idea: a water bag preloading system, applied across 14 kilometers of soft ground in place of imported fill. LumenRT modeled the major bridge structures, optimizing hydraulic performance to protect the region's tidal bore.

The results compounded. Avoiding 817,000 cubic meters of fill eliminated 81,700 truck trips and 3.27 million kilometers of haulage. Ground treatment's carbon footprint fell by 73 percent, and 3,497 tons of CO₂ never entered the atmosphere. Design time dropped 25 percent, work hours fell 30 percent, construction delays eased by 10 percent, and total savings exceeded RM 46 million on a MYR 1,547 million investment.

For more than 90,000 residents, the journey shortened from 253 kilometers to 90 — proof that lower emissions and better connectivity can be engineered together.