Highways and highways, due to their design and characteristics, are without a doubt the safest roads in our transportation networks. However, it is important to highlight that, despite this perception, traffic accidents still occur with a worrying frequency on these roads. In 2022, the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) reported 312 deaths on high-capacity roads, which, although they only account for 27% of the deaths recorded on all roads, are still too many.
The ambitious United Nations Vision Zero program, which aims to ensure that no one dies or is seriously injured in a traffic accident by 2050, undoubtedly aims to enhance road safety, both at the technological level and at the level of public policies and citizen awareness.
Improving road infrastructure is essential to achieve this ambitious goal and reduce the number of road accidents. In this context, the BIM highways that are beginning to be planned in different parts of the world – also in Spain – emerge as a promising tool to strengthen road safety on high-capacity roads.
The acronym BIM stands for the English initials of Building Information Modeling, which translates into Spanish as information modeling for construction. It is a methodology that involves the creation and management of digital information of a building or infrastructure throughout its entire life cycle, from its design and construction to its operation and maintenance.
The BIM system is used in the field of architecture and engineering to improve efficiency, quality and collaboration in construction projects. BIM highways offer a number of significant advantages, as they are developed following guidelines and recommendations from road safety experts. In this way, elements are incorporated during construction that often can only be fully evaluated once the work is completed.
These guidelines focus on fundamental aspects of driving, such as braking distance, efficient management of road drainage, optimization of visibility and the design of safe curves. This approach ensures that BIM highways are designed to the highest safety standards, thus contributing to the reduction of accidents and fatalities on high-capacity roads.
The BIM methodology applied to a road of these characteristics will be used for the first time in Spain on the A-67 highway, in Cantabria. The pilot test will be carried out on a section of the aforementioned highway, between the municipalities of Santander and Polanco, for the construction of a third lane. As the highway expansion is being built, solutions aimed at reinforcing road safety will be analyzed simultaneously.
The Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (MItma) has awarded the consulting and technical assistance services contract for 1.01 million euros to develop this pilot test to implement the BIM methodology. This action is financed through the Recovery Plan, which will allocate 35 million euros of European funds for digitalization actions of the State Highway Network.
The first phase of the A-67 project will consist of the modernization of the aforementioned initiative to have a BIM model applicable to the phase of the work. Subsequently, this pilot experience will enter a second phase, construction, in which the implementation, coordination and monitoring of the application of the BIM methodology of the works contract will be carried out.
In 2019, the Generalitat of Catalonia announced to the media the BIM model of the C-32 highway extension project, from Tordera to Blanes and Lloret de Mar. However, this plan has been stopped following a ruling judicial, in which the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) supported the objections of six environmental entities that had challenged the project for not complying with the guidelines of the 2017 Climate Change law.