Background
In July 2021, California Governor Gavin Newson signed into law Senate Bill 156 (SB156). The bill created an open-access middle-mile network to bring equitable high-speed broadband service to all Californians.
Wood Rodgers was responsible for designing the fiber optic installation along 111 miles of freeways and state highways.
Project Specifics
Wood Rodgers approached this monumental project as a data management task instead of a traditional design project. While the design element of this project was relatively simple, the size of the data and collaboration requirements was significant.
A project of this size and magnitude would usually take nine months to complete manually with a team of eight full-time employees. This project required over 500 design sheets and was completed in only six weeks with the collaboration between the design engineers and the CAD Design, IT, and GIS Departments at Wood Rodgers.
Technology
Using ArcGIS for AutoCAD, an Esri plugin, we were able to share GIS features, including aerial imagery within Autodesk Civil3D. Implementing standardized procedures for designing and planning made the process faster and easier for all team members.
Instead of viewing data in individual files, GIS was used as a central data source for all data, making all data viewable at the same time and any errors could be identified to streamline collaboration and quality control.
In all GIS was used for:
• Central Data Repository
• Data Viewing and Error Identification
• Organization of Summary Quantities
• Integration with Other Technologies
• Visual Communication and Dashboards
Recognition
In July 2024, a team of GIS professionals from Wood Rodgers attended the Esri User Conference 2024 in San Diego, CA.
We were honored to receive the Special Achievement in GIS Award for our work on the Caltrans District 3 Middle Mile Broadband Network project.
