Welcome to CDM Smith.

Tourists and truck drivers headed to or coming from Canada often find them­selves crossing the border at the BWB Plaza in Port Huron, Michigan. The BWB Plaza is the second most traveled U.S.-Canadian com­mer­cial truck crossing—helping maintain the world’s largest bi­lat­eral trade re­la­tion­ship between the United States and Canada—and reg­u­larly sees high volumes of com­mer­cial and pas­sen­ger vehicles. The Michigan De­part­ment of Trans­porta­tion (MDOT) com­pleted major freeway im­prove­ments in 2012, and wants to upgrade the plaza to take ad­van­tage of these upgrades, as well as correct inbound traffic issues, ac­com­mo­date growing traffic and upgraded border security fa­cil­i­ties, and relocate the Duty Free store. CDM Smith, having more than a decade of ex­pe­ri­ence working with both coun­tries on the plaza complex, was con­sulted to help the two sides un­der­stand the plaza’s needs and maximize avail­able space in the most recent bi-national master planning process.

Building a Brighter Future
CDM Smith has helped MDOT meet federal in­spec­tion program re­quire­ments while co­or­di­nat­ing the in­ter­ests of both coun­tries. Our team also fa­cil­i­tated fea­si­bil­ity planning, en­gi­neer­ing and en­vi­ron­men­tal impact studies, and border pro­tec­tion co­or­di­na­tion efforts. CDM Smith assisted in the es­tab­lish­ment of a bi­na­tional study team, en­cour­ag­ing each party to consider the other’s goals.

Upon com­ple­tion, the BWB Plaza will expand its size from 17 acres up to as much as 55 acres. The ex­pan­sion will help improve op­er­a­tions by re­lo­cat­ing truck in­spec­tions to the right side of the plaza to al­le­vi­ate the need for trucks to weave across the Blue Water Bridge, which will also see an expansion of its 13 existing primary in­spec­tion booths.  Im­prove­ments will allow room for tech­nol­ogy upgrades such as ad­di­tional non-in­tru­sive in­spec­tion fa­cil­i­ties, upgraded truck docking stations to allow full cargo un­load­ing, and ad­di­tional parking capacity, which will also help the plaza meet truck in­spec­tion needs. The upgrades will separate toll ­booths from outbound customs in­spec­tions, which cur­rently require officers to inspect vehicles in traffic, re­sult­ing in long outbound traffic delays.

The mod­ern­iza­tion of this vital in­ter­na­tional border crossing will ensure the plaza is well equipped to handle im­pend­ing traffic demands and evolving security prac­tices. The regular con­ges­tion along Michigan Interstates 94 and 69 due to outbound customs in­spec­tions, as well as traffic build-up on Canada’s Highway 402 caused by the current U.S. truck in­spec­tions and subsequent weaving, will be al­le­vi­ated by the BWB Plaza enhancements.  Local city streets and en­trances to the plaza will be improved to allow for clear egress onto the plaza, and a new Duty Free store will be con­structed and located in the outbound di­rec­tion with easy on and off ramps.

Tech­no­log­i­cal Trail­blaz­ers
CDM Smith recently com­pleted a research and de­vel­op­ment project, which used the BWB Plaza as a test case for virtual design and con­struc­tion methods in trans­porta­tion projects by leveraging mixed and virtual reality tools and technologies, such as the Microsoft HoloLens. CDM Smith engaged MDOT and BWB stake­hold­ers in the effort, defining a col­lab­o­ra­tive and ef­fi­cient process of re­view­ing project designs in a highly visual and immersive platform that allowed users to walk through a full-scale plaza layout long before con­struc­tion.

These in­no­v­a­tive tech­nolo­gies are en­cour­ag­ing col­lab­o­ra­tion and con­sis­tency between project members. Applying them makes it easy to identify po­ten­tial chal­lenges or changes at each stage of design, reducing rework efforts and the potential for errors to appear during con­struc­tion. Adding these abilities to a project ul­ti­mately re­sults in a better, more cost-ef­fec­tive product. Pin­point­ing problems before they occur will help teams manage risk, optimize schedule and make better-informed de­ci­sions for a fluid tran­si­tion between engineering and construciton, and finally to op­er­a­tions.