It isn't easy to build
bridges and roads. The coordination is hard and takes time and money. To help
now, technology is stepping in. Project control technology helps with planning,
tracking, and completing projects. It helps to minimize delay and control cost.
In this article, we will look at how it changes construction.
In this, we take a look at
what it solves and what it offers in solutions and tips on how to use it right.
Next, we will give an example of a real case from India. Let’s jump in!
Problems:
Construction projects face
serious hurdles. Delays are common. According to a global survey, 70 percent of
infrastructure projects around the world came in late in 2022. This is usually
due to weather, slow permits, or late materials. Costs balloon, too. One in
five road projects cost more than their initial budgets, and 65% of road
projects cost 20% or more than their initial budgets.
A project as little as $10
million can go over $12 million just through bad planning of contract delays
and contractors that discover rocky ground. Communication flops hurt, as well.
Miscommunication is responsible for 30% of bridge rework in 2021, such as
workers building the wrong thing.
Tracking progress is
tricky, too. Teams are not to roll without solid info and fail to notice until
it is too late. Wasting time and money, these are the issues.
Solutions:
Therefore, project control
technology is stepping in to fix these messes. It is used to use software to
plan everything it is going to do. Plans and risks are mapped out early: storms
or days of delivery delays. An industry report stated that by 2026, this will
cut delay by an average of 18%.
Another case of a highway
project eliminating a three-month delay by anticipating monsoon forecasts. It
also tracks costs live. Spending happens as it occurs and is shown on
dashboards. Managers see it instantly if a bridge job’s budget jumps from $5
million to $5.5 million. Since last year, this has saved 12% globally, around
$120 million applied to 1,000 tracked jobs.
Communication gets better,
too. Apps connect workers and bosses. They post updates and photos of the site.
This drops mistakes by 25% in a 2024 study. For example, a road crew caught a
design flaw early and prevented exactly $200,000 in rework. Tech that is around
can make progress tracking shine — sensors and drones, for instance.
"In 2022, a drone and
cut inspection on a U.S. bridge was a 2022 project, reducing inspection time by
35 percent from 20 days to 13 days." For another project, the equipment
was equipped with sensors, and the efficiency was increased by 15 percent, with
the job finished two weeks ahead. In this tech, everything is clear and on
track.
Case
Study: India’s Mumbai Coastal Road Project:
However, now that we know
it, let us see it work in a real-life example: India’s Mumbai Coastal Road. The
29km project started rolling in 2018 to clear the traffic for Mumbaikars of 20
million. The first few days were rough, and parts opened by 2023. Work was
stalled for six months by the monsoons. Costs rose from $1.8 billion to $2.2
billion, a 22% spike, due to land fights and extra materials. The team needed a
turnaround.
They used project controls
technology. Tasks such as digging, paving, and varying widths and lengths were
tracked by software. Pioneered on the site of the Taj Mahal, daily site updates
were provided by drones that saved up to 10 days of progress checks, cuttings.
Costs got controlled too. However, live data flagged a steel overspend of $10
million, and they switched suppliers, saving $45 million in that period.
According to official
stats, delays dropped 20%, and two months were recovered. They also cut errors,
such as reporting a bad pavement batch early and using apps to work as eyes on
the ground. The tech works in real, not just hypothetical, time and cash
savings, as Mumbai’s success demonstrates.
Recommendations:
To use this technology, do
these steps. First, train your team well. This elevates confidence to a
two-hour session on software basics. Trained crews save 10 days (15%) on a
60-day job from data for 2023. Untrained teams will take 20% more time to
repair errors, such as when they misinterpret the plan.
Second, start small. Then,
test it on a short road (a project), like one. Notably, pilot projects also
find issues early and scale them up for 30 percent higher success. Select
suitable tools depending on what you need. Roads will require cost dashboards
to save 8% overruns, golf courses could benefit from drone tracking, which will
save 10 hours on each inspection, and bridges could also utilize drone tracking
to save 10 hours per inspection.
Keep data fresh. Daily
updates beat weekly ones. According to research data from 2024, projects with
real-time information save 10 percent more, or around $100,000, on a $1 million
job. The average stale data delay is five days, which can delay fixes by five
days. Involve everyone, too. The 2023 report says that confusion plummets 22
percent when workers and suppliers use the system. A bridge team in Europe
synced 50 people and finished 12% early.
Finally, check results
often. Measure the time saved in three months, 15 days on the road, or $50,000
in materials. If it works, expand it. If not, tweak it. Based on the numbers,
these tips make the tech a powerhouse.
Conclusion:
Bridge and road
construction is changing by way of project control technology. It takes care of
delays, spiking costs, and communication blackouts. That is not only possible
but also done 18% less with live tracking and hard data and 12% less against
spending. Even better, tips such as training and daily updates are also shown
by stats to work. That is proof in Mumbai’s coastal road where $45 million was
saved.
The problem is not
flawless: It takes time to train, and tools come at a cost. But the gains are
clear. The growth of this tech will result in faster and cheaper projects that
are also stronger. Would it be able to aid your next build?
Author:
Bhavin Lakhani is the Project Controls Specialist Lead, PMP, CCM, &
Chartered Engineer.
