“Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project” by URS Corporation

  • ©Jeff Coleman

Conference:


SIGGRAPH Video Review:


Track:


    21

Title:


    Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project

Length:


    1:52

Director(s):


Company / Institution / Agency:


  • URS Corporation

Description:


    The Federal Highway Administration, the Virginia Department of Transportation, the Maryland State Highway Administration, and the District of Columbia Department of Public Works are pursuing a $2.2 billion improvement of a 7.5-mile section of the east coast’s busy 1-95 corridor at the mid-point across the Potomac River, which includes the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Potomac Crossing Consultants, a joint-venture of Parsons Brinkerhoff, URS, and RKK, LLP, is the general engineering consultant that is providing project management of design and construction for the project. The setting includes a highly populated, environmentally and culturally sensitive landscape, and the project affects many businesses, local residences, and travelers, so it requires extensive public involvement.

    URS, Creative Imaging Group, Tampa, created a series of 3D com­puter simulations showing the new bridge and roadway design. The use of the rendering products began during a bridge-design competition in which CADD files and technical information were translated into still and animated visuals. These images were used by a citizen’s advisory panel and a distinguished jury to determine the competition winner. Print and television news media received the materials, which they have continued to use to track stories of the largest public works project in the mid-Atlantic region.

    Subsequently, renderings were used in still and animated forms for public hearings, town hall meetings, stakeholder panel meet­ings, b-roll for the media, and a variety of other formats. In November 2000, a Virginia Department of Transportation public hearing debuted a 12-minute video of a split-screen fly-through from a helicopter point of view, at an altitude of approximately 300 feet, of full construction of the Virginia portion of the project. A fly-through animation of the entire project was prepared to show traffic movements. This fly-through was available on a one-hour loop for five days at the annual Transportation Research Board (TRB) meeting in Washington D.C., where 7,000 attendees had the opportunity to view the video. That video has been reformat­ted into other formats for various purposes and will be available for broader distribution. These are very effective ways to show building removals and how new ramps will serve travelers, and they have been very well received by those who are unable to visualize engineering drawings.

Additional Contributors:


    Animation and Video Director: JEFF COLEMAN, URS CORPORATION

    Clients: FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, MARYLAND STATE HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, AND THE D.C. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS

    URS animation staff: JIM WINBORG, MICHAEL BOGATIN, CURT COLEMAN, CHARLES PARSONS, ALVARO TORRES, CHI TRAN, GLENDA BEDASIE, ROBERT VALENTINE

    Writer, Producer, Coordinator: NORINE M. WALKER

Animation / Video Overview:


Type: