When Bechtel officials at the Tacoma Narrows Bridge project near Seattle, Washington, wanted to keep the public up to date on construction progress, they turned to the company’s virtual reality lab. The result was a series of virtual walkthroughs depicting each phase of construction on what will be the longest suspension span built in the United States in more than three decades.
Erin Hunter, Bechtel’s communications representative at the project, explains: “Carl Johnson of the virtual reality lab came up from San Francisco and talked to engineers who showed him what was going to happen. We created virtual realities averaging two to three minutes for each construction milestone . . . caissons, tower construction, cable spinning, deck erection, and a final fly-through.”
Hunter plugged the virtual walkthroughs into PowerPoint presentations, used them in videos, and even had them posted on the Washington State Department of Transportation’s Web site (wsdot.wa.gov).
“When we’re dealing with the public, it’s easier to have something that visually explains what’s happening than it is to try to explain it,” says Hunter. “We gave people a visual understanding of what to expect. People liked the walkthroughs, and so did the customer.
“This was probably the smartest thing I ever did on this project,” she adds.
