Trimble Quantm Alignment Planning: Quickly review, assess and present multiple alignment results

"The Quantm system not only provides technical and scientific basis for the route alignment selection / optimization, reduced alignment cost and planning time, but it also provides a powerful and efficient tool for alignment review, assessment and presentation during the planning and design process."

Zhejiang Provincial Plan, Design and Research Institute of Communications (ZJIC)

The 150 kilometer (93.2 mile) Huangqunan Expressway is a section of the China National Expressway Network Project located in Zhejiang Province between Huangshan and Nanping via Quzhou with a design speed of 80 kilometers per hour (49.7 miles per hour). In this study, the Zhejiang Provincial Plan, Design and Research Institute of Communications (ZJIC) used the Trimble^® Quantm^™ system to generate optimized alignments and compared them with design alignments generated from the feasibility study using the conventional planning method. The results of the Quantm application have demonstrated great advantages in terms of project cost savings and planning time reductions while maintaining high quality alignments and meeting all the constraints during the planning process.

Within 200 meters (656.1 feet) of the original design alignment, ZJIC engineers identified optimized alignments that delivered significant construction cost savings. These savings were derived from major reductions in total bridge length over 8.5 kilometers (5.2 miles) and earthwork reduction by more than 15 million cubic meters. Total tunnel length was reduced by more than half and total route length was reduced by more than 600 meters (0.3 miles). It was also shown that the system could still deliver savings with Quantm's vertical optimization on projects that have advanced to the stage where the horizontal alignment is fixed.

Project Benefits

• Powerful tool to review, assess and present multiple alignment results
• Scientific support for derived alignments
• Reduction in bridge and tunnel length and earthworks reducing construction cost
• Reduction in project planning and design time