Case Study: Alabama Department of Transportation achieves 70% faster animation production and stronger stakeholder buy‑in with Bentley LumenRT

Reality Modeling Drives Communication of Design Intent for Mobile River Bridge Project

The Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) needed to communicate a proposed six‑lane, 2.75‑mile cable‑stayed bridge across the Mobile River — the country’s second‑highest clearance bridge — to alleviate severe I‑10 congestion and secure stakeholder, environmental, and public approval. To create realistic, easily understood visualizations for hearings and outreach, ALDOT worked with Bentley, leveraging Bentley LumenRT along with Bentley Descartes, OpenRoads, and MicroStation to build a reality model from aerial LiDAR and imagery.

Bentley’s tools produced an immersive LiveCube and high‑quality animations that let stakeholders explore the project from any perspective, enabling ALDOT to demonstrate traffic, environmental, and economic impacts. Using Bentley LumenRT reduced animation production time by about 70%, helped achieve the necessary public and agency buy‑in to advance to preliminary design, and supported an economic impact estimate of roughly USD 537 million to USD 1.08 billion annually.

Alabama Department of Transportation

J.D. D’Arville

Transportation Administrator