The West Lisbon Avenue Bridge over the Canadian Pacific Railway is located between 30th and 31st Street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The existing bridge was scheduled for replacement with a single span, reinforced concrete rigid frame, bridge structure supported on steel piles.

The City of Milwaukee was interested in utilizing the latest BIM technology on their bridge projects in an effort to improve design efficiency, identify possible conflicts during design, reduce construction changes and provide rendering/visualization. The City of Milwaukee retained ZS to prepare a Bridge Information Model (BrIM) to achieve these objectives.

ZS developed a Level 300 BrIM model of the West Lisbon Avenue Bridge for the City of Milwaukee Department of Public Works during the design phase of the new bridge. The Scope of the BrIM model included the following:

• BriM model components included the rigid frame structure, parapets, railings, steel piles, existing abutments, existing buried concrete tunnel, existing sewer pipe, site topography, site hardscape features, approach slabs, railway tracks, and MSE wall.
• Architectural renderings of the bridge with various views were provided including the architectural surface treatments for review by the City of Milwaukee design team.
• BriM model was used to check alignments between the new bridge structure and existing structures and roads.
• A review of BriM models was performed to detect clashes in the proposed bridge design elements.
• BriM models elements were created to match WisDOT standards.
• The final design of the bridge was completed following the resolution of clashes and conflicts identified using the BriM model.