Integration of BIM for Bridge Modeling

Authors

• Jiansong ZhangFollow
• Hang Li, Purdue UniversityFollow
• Temitope Akanbi, Purdue UniversityFollow
• Hosam Hegazy, Purdue UniversityFollow
• Fan Yang, Purdue UniversityFollow
• Meta Soy, Purdue UniversityFollow
• Yunfeng Chen, Purdue UniversityFollow
• Hazar Nicholas Dib, Purdue UniversityFollow

Abstract

Existing INDOT bridge projects mainly use PDF plans for the official deliverables and records to be communicated, transferred, and stored among different stakeholders. With the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) BIM standard (ISO 16739) adopted by AASHTO as the national standard for modeling bridge projects, there comes a great opportunity to upgrade the documentation of INDOT bridge projects to 3D BIM in compliance with this national standard, while at the same time addressing the need to manage and retrieve project information in a more convenient and efficient way. In addition, INDOT needs to achieve the goal of meeting new Specifications for the National Bridge Inventory (SNBI) requirements by the 2028 deadline, whereas a lot of such information can potentially be extracted from PDF plans, for the 19,000+ bridges managed at INDOT. In this study, the research team investigated methods and developed tools leveraging PDF2BIM and information extraction technologies to (1) assist in creating 3D IFC bridge models more efficiently based on 2D plans and (2) assist in extracting useful information from PDF plans automatically for meeting SNBI requirements. This project helps save efforts in transition from PDF plans-based practice to BIM-based practice in managing the lifecycle of bridge projects.

Keywords

building information modeling (BIM), PDF, transportation infrastructure, bridge, industry foundation classes (IFC), information extraction, specifications for the national bridge inventory (SNBI)

Report Number

FHWA/IN/JTRP-2026/08

SPR Number

4622

Sponsoring Organization

Indiana Department of Transportation

Performing Organization

Joint Transportation Research Program

Publisher Place

West Lafayette, Indiana

Date of Version

2026

DOI

10.5703/1288284318616

Recommended Citation

Zhang, J., Li, H., Akanbi, T., Hegazy, H., Yang, F., Soy, M., Chen, Y., & Dib, H. N. (2026). Integration of BIM for bridge modeling (Joint Transportation Research Program Publication No. FHWA/IN/JTRP-2026/08). West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University. https://doi.org/10.5703/1288284318616