Project
The Union Station to Oak Cliff Dallas Streetcar TIGER Project involved constructing a 1.6-mile streetcar from Union Station in Dallas to the Oak Cliff community. Although only 1.6-miles in length, it is the multi-million-dollar streetcar system’s most important and costly segment, and provides the only streetcar crossing over the Trinity River floodplain. The single-track, bi-directional streetcar alignment required constructing cast-in-place concrete track slab along the historic, 101-year-old Houston St. Viaduct Bridge, which needed extensive rehabilitation.
Solution
By utilizing InRoads 2D and 3D modeling capabilities, the team ensured the client understood how embedded track guidelines from the 2012 American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association Manual would better serve the Dallas Streetcar design and construction. To enable information mobility for 70 professionals across 18 office locations, they used ProjectWise to improve collaboration and productivity while reducing the project delivery time.
Outcome
This project features several innovations. It is the first streetcar in the United States using wireless traction power. On surface streets, the vehicles are powered by an overhead wire system but operate “off wire” with an on-board energy storage system as they cross the mile-long Houston Street Viaduct. It also incorporates a relatively new rail type in the United States, the new 112TRAM rail. Dallas Streetcar is only the second project in the United States to use this rail type.
Software
The team used Descartes, GEOPAK, InRoads, MicroStation, Pointools, and ProjectWise to complete the project. ProjectWise was the document management system and virtual office which enabled real-time collaboration of remote team members and helped to minimize potential data inaccuracies. Using ProjectWise, the team managed more than 17,000 files, including CAD files, engineering calculations, spreadsheets, Word documents, quality assurance and quality control review submittals, and email correspondence.