The pilot study in the project was the improvement of Highway 120 (Vihdintie) by the construction of an underpass in Kortesmäki, Espoo. The finished road plan was available for viewing as BIM model alongside printed documentation in autumn 2018 in the City of Espoo Technical and Environment Services exhibition space.

Under the current Highway Act, the administrative process of road plans is based on printed documentation of the plans. Design models have long been used as a tool in planning and stakeholder collaboration, but their use has not extended to the administrative processing of plans. One reason for this is that current design models do not contain all information relevant for administrative processing or fail to make the information adequately accessible.

The pilot project for the BIM based administrative process of road plans was launched in May 2018 and has now progressed to its second phase. The first phase defined the modelling requirements for road plans, modelling precision and the presentation method for design models for the purpose of administrative processing.

The aim is that the City of Espoo opinion, Uusimaa ELY Centre approval proposal and the approval decision by the Finnish Transport Agency will also be prepared on the basis of model-based material. The project also tests the process of handing over the road plan material as an information model to the National Land Survey for the purpose of expropriation.

The result of the project will be a specification of administrative BIM requirements for the road planning process and identification of potential development needs. The objective of the project is not to change the approval process for road plans, but instead to adapt design models to serve the needs of administrative processing.

The project is carried out jointly by the Finnish Transport Agency, Uusimaa ELY Centre, City of Espoo, National Land Survey of Finland and Sitowise. The pilot project is also funded by the Ministry of the Environment KIRA-digi project and contributes to the Government key project on the digitalisation of public services.