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The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced Oct. 28 that the University of Cincinnati will receive approximately $5.1 million to promote the adoption of digital platforms that speed up and improve the delivery of transit construction projects while reducing costs. Funded by President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the program will test digital systems that manage the entire construction life cycle of transit infrastructure projects, leading to increased efficiency and improved project outcomes.

The infrastructure law, which is the largest investment in public transit in the nation's history, highlighted the potential of advanced digital construction management systems to improve how transit agencies deliver capital projects by providing a platform that tracks all phases of construction.

"Our goal is to help transit agencies deliver projects on time, on task and on budget," said Veronica Vanterpool, FTA deputy administrator. "Today's selection will help us do that by improving efficiency and providing tools that reduce construction delays and costs and enable workers to perform tasks faster, more safely, smarter and more accurately."

The Accelerating Advanced Digital Construction Management Systems (ADCMS) Program will allow transit agencies to test digital construction technologies and capabilities in real-world construction project settings, determine their feasibility, understand the impacts and determine the usefulness of the results.

The use of digital systems to manage transportation infrastructure projects supports the Biden-Harris Administration and USDOT efforts to improve infrastructure project delivery nationwide. Having delivered historic levels of federal funding for expanding and modernizing transit systems, the Administration is now focused on accelerating and strengthening the project delivery process.

Many transit agencies have implemented elements of construction management, such as program management systems; online document management systems; and asset management systems, but few have adopted a solution that integrates all functions and processes for an infrastructure program. These advanced digital construction management systems use technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, data integration, modeling and simulation and real-time data processing to streamline and coordinate work processes across an organization throughout the project.

The University of Cincinnati, which was selected through a competitive process, has an extensive background in research; access to university labs; and technical expertise. The team includes faculty who will conduct the study and demonstrations, as well as staff from the Southwest Ohio Regional Transportation Authority, the Butler County Regional Transit Authority and Akron Metro.

The results of the demonstrations will be used to produce a guide for other transit agencies with best practices in planning and deploying advanced digital construction management solutions.

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