At $400 million, the I-494: Airport to Hwy 169 First Construction Design-Build Project is MnDOT's largest design-build project to date spanning 5.5 miles from East Bush Lake Road to 12th Avenue S. This project is part of a long-term vision by MnDOT that aims to provide a transit advantage to increase the number of people who can be efficiently moved through the area; improve the reliability of the average rush-hour trip; improve safety; restore pavement to preserve infrastructure and provide a smoother ride; improve drainage systems to reduce localized flooding and reduce run-off into the Minnesota River.

Michael Baker is serving as Lead Designer for this design-build project and is part of the team led by C.S. McCrossan Construction, Inc. The project includes the design and construction of an E-Z Pass HOV lane between East Bush Lake Road and I-35W, a turbine interchange at I-494 and I-35W which happens to be the most heavily traveled interchange in Minnesota, and a reconfiguration of the access at Nicollet, Portland and 12th Avenues. Also included is the construction of 12 new bridges, including a new pedestrian bridge, more than 30 retaining walls, noise walls and new drainage infrastructure.

The presentation will cover reliable workflows, tools, and design methods for how the team delivered the project in ORD with ProjectWise Infrastructure Cloud by leveraging the enhanced software capabilities of the CONNECT platform. The team will share both successes and challenges encountered from procurement stage through final design to share recommendations and lessons learned as the industry moves further towards model centric design and digital delivery. Challenges included migrating across three different iterations of MnDOT's ORD workspace during the project, creating plan production related customizations to adhere to requirements surrounding deliverable requirements, overcoming the steep learning curve of adopting a new design platform across multiple disciplines new to ORD under a demanding schedule.