# New Perspectives for BIM Usage in Transportation Infrastructure Projects
## 4 Discussion  
In the first case study, it is shown that it is possible to develop an efficient bridge management system (BMS) that is indispensable to satisfy the massive demand of bridge maintenance activities in Spain. Previous studies have posed that bridge maintenance, mainly for historical bridges, applying this methodology for a given case [35]. However, it is worth highlighting that there are thousands of bridges at the moment that could not be considered as cultural heritage and their lifespan could reach 100 years [36; 37]. BMS proposed in this study is based on BIM methodology according to real needs and using existing resources [10], and fills a blank space in the BIM standards for the maintenance and exploitation of bridges. Nevertheless, although the system is promising, it would require the 3D model  
Figure 21: Three alternatives for the deviation of the A-30 highway. Figure 22: (**a**) Quantification of the risk associated to road drainage and (**b**) relative distance among signaling. of the existing bridges and that is why the procedure is quite limited. Additionally, the generated data should utilize Big Data technology to be useful and achieve an efficient bridge management [37]. In the second case of study, the potential use of BrIM for infrastructure replacement has been demonstrated. Navisworks has shown to be a key tool to detect interferences because it considers time as an ordinary dimension [18; 19; 20; 21; 22; 23; 24; 25; 26; 27; 28; 29; 30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35; 36; 37; 38; 39]. There are some other programs with the same possibilities such as Synchro. In this case, Navisworks was chosen because it was considered that using the software of a single commercial firm might enhance the precision of the data interchange among programs [40]. The third and fourth case studies were based on parameters that allowed gathering three-dimensional and parametric models from the 3D-scanning data. Thus, each item was linked from SketchUp to the uniform resource locator (URL) for each datasheet. This datasheet can vary and include requirements such as reflectance, service life, etc., in the tendering phase. Such features may be replaced by those supplied by the manufacturer when the real works are performed. Moreover, in both OpenRoads ConceptStation and OpenRoads Designer, it has been possible to incorporate the elements with their attributes on the program library [41]. In addition, a new table indicating element to element any aspect associated with any specific traffic sign including its location or other aspects of the construction works was included. The conclusion of this project showed the successful use of BIM for this purpose, including in the same model elements with different LOD, sequentially designed and with a final impartial value for the decision-making process [42]. The above discussion and examples reveal that in spite of the scarce implementation of BIM in active management of civil engineering constructions [6] its use is very interesting. With it a single model contains all the historical information relative to the vital elements of the roads and bridges. Respecting the available software packages and their interoperability it has been shown that the main problems with BIM usage are just the interoperability between different software packages, especially if they are supported by different firms [43]. Through use of a combination of software and some programming, the case studies reveal the outstanding possibilities of the use of BIM for the maintenance and exploitation of important existing infrastructure. In addition, it has shown that it helps studying the work schedule and program of the construction works in order to maintain the service during the execution of rehabilitation works [44]. Moreover, the use of digital tools and BIM can help assessing the best alternative in terms of safety [45]. The results have shown that BIM helps the decision-making processes of the managing staff as well as diminish the risk of errors.