Dewberry, a privately held engineering, architectural, and management consulting firm, has completed the installation of a five mile long reclaimed water pipeline in Fairfax County, Va. This multi-faceted project was completed without impacting any existing utility infrastructure. Dewberry used a Building Information Modeling (BIM) process with advanced 3D design and visualization technology from Autodesk to support the bid and then design the pipeline. Funded with $6.5 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the $15 million new pipeline was developed under the Noman Cole Pollution Control Plant Water Reuse Project.  Informally referred to by the team as a “purple pipe” project–because in the United States reclaimed water is always distributed in light purple pipes to distinguish it from potable water–the reclaimed water will be used for local landscape irrigation and cooling purposes at a local energy-from-waste facility. This complex project involved more than 120 team members and 10 government agencies. Advanced 3D visualization and design software helped Dewberry increase design and construction efficiency, and communicate design intent to non-technical stakeholders. Image courtesy of Dewberry. “Applying an information modeling process is a highly efficient way to manage complex and challenging projects such as a purple pipe project,” said Cody Pennetti, site/civil engineer, Dewberry.  “With the success of the Noman Cole Pollution Control Plan Water Reuse project, we’re now applying information modeling tools to a similar large-scale infrastructure project in the works, including the application of Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler software.  Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler enables us to further enhance our ability to model information on new projects to create, evaluate, and communicate visually rich infrastructure proposals for more informed decision-making.” Dewberry used Autodesk software for information modeling throughout the project’s lifecycle, ranging from the proposal, to the initial design phase, and through development of construction documents. The 3-D modeling software helped Dewberry create models and visualizations that were used at public hearings, by contractors, and for local government agencies to help demonstrate how the project would be completed. AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Map 3D and Autodesk 3ds Max Design software provided a number of opportunities for the Dewberry team to add value to the project. For example, using AutoCAD Civil 3D software helped Dewberry demonstrate its understanding of the project’s challenges to stakeholders. Initial alignment studies and visualizations were provided by compiling County GIS data using AutoCAD Map 3D. Throughout the project, conceptual visualizations of the model were created using Autodesk 3ds Max Design to help meet deadlines by supporting the communication of design intent and options to the client and contractors. An interview with Cody Pennetti is available at the Autodesk YouTube channel.