Integrated CM and the Benefits to Owners - By William Torres, PE, CCM - HNTB

BuildIT would like to amplify the technical expertise of William Torres, Vice President, West Division Construction Services at HNTB featured in an article he produced entitled:

How integrated construction management helps owners reduce risk and deliver with greater certainty 

Urban light rail bridge programs are not just bridge projects; they are interface-management challenges. As transit agencies expand service into dense urban corridors, they must overcome complex physical constraints, such as active shipping lanes, congested industrial sites, freight rail corridors, heavily traveled roadways and established neighborhoods. Creating new transit crossings in these environments requires bridge solutions that can span long distances while minimizing impacts below.

For many long-span urban transit crossings, cable-stayed bridges can be a proven solution. With fewer foundations and a reduced footprint, they can cross wide, obstruction-filled corridors. While a cable-stayed bridge helps address many of the challenges inherent to urban settings, it also introduces a high degree of technical complexity, requiring careful coordination, precise execution and advanced planning across all phases of project delivery.

To navigate this complex environment, forward-looking owners may want to consider integrating construction management (CM) early in the project lifecycle.

Early Collaboration Plus Deep Technical Reach

Construction management is most effective when collaboration with the project team begins long before construction. Early introduction to the team serves the owner’s best interests, advancing a collaborative, project-first philosophy and improving certainty of success.

Collaborative delivery models, such as progressive design-build and general contractor/construction management, support this process by bringing construction expertise into the planning and design phases, allowing real-time input on constructability, phasing, access, staging and means and methods. This early collaboration often leads to innovative schedule and cost-containment solutions not only during construction but throughout the bridge’s lifecycle.

An effective, integrated CM approach also draws on both deep local insight and broad national expertise. By combining local knowledge of project challenges, such as varying site conditions, permitting and stakeholder dynamics, with national expertise in complex bridge design and construction, transit systems, environmental planning and digital delivery, the integrated CM can deliver dynamic leadership as project needs evolve. This ability strengthens the project team’s holistic decision-making, improves constructability and enhances project delivery strategies. The result is a highly coordinated effort that helps owners deliver high-quality infrastructure on time and on budget while minimizing disruptions.

The Value of Early CM Involvement

Early engagement of a CM harnesses local experience, broad technical expertise and early collaboration to help owners navigate risk, improve project outcomes and maximize the value of their investment. The following examples illustrate the strategies a CM uses to achieve those objectives:

Coordinating with third parties to avoid disruptions

For complex bridge programs in an urban environment, maintaining operations around the project can be just as important as constructing the bridge itself. An integrated CM approach brings together multidisciplinary expertise, harnessing national and local best practices in stakeholder engagement, traffic engineering, rail operations and maritime coordination to develop intricate phasing and staging strategies that can maintain continuous freight, commuter traffic and port operations.

For example, the CM team can recommend accelerated bridge construction methods, such as prefabricated bridge elements, which can be assembled off-site and installed during carefully planned overnight or weekend erection windows to minimize or eliminate disruptions.

Applying a transit systems lens

Delivering long-span transit bridges requires a systems-level understanding of how transit infrastructure performs in coordination with the structure itself. Light-rail structures, especially cable-stayed spans, must meet far tighter tolerances for deflection, vibration and track geometry. These requirements directly affect passenger comfort, vehicle performance and long-term maintainability, and they rely on precise alignment between structural behavior and track system installation.

An integrated CM taps into national bridge and transit experts and brings this awareness into the design, construction and integration phases, helping ensure that structural and systems elements, including track, communications, civil/structural interfaces and electrical systems, are aligned from the outset.

Leveraging digital technologies

Early CM involvement enhances constructability through advanced digital tools, such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), project controls, predictive analytics and deployable inspection technology. These capabilities enable the project team to plan virtually by coordinating disciplines, optimizing workflows and capturing relevant, reliable data that can be tracked across project phases to manage risk and improve efficiency.

For example, on a complex long-span transit bridge, an integrated CM team may deploy a centralized system that integrates BIM, project management information systems (PMIS) and project controls to create a real-time, shared resource across all phases of delivery. Design models, construction sequencing, cost data, schedule updates and field conditions can be continuously integrated and updated within the common platform, allowing the project team to make timely, better-informed decisions as conditions evolve. During construction, this integration improves interdisciplinary coordination, reduces rework and accelerates issue resolution.

The same interoperable digital framework can be transferred to the owner upon project completion to create a digital twin that supports operations, inspections and asset management throughout the bridge’s lifecycle. To feed real-time data into the digital twin, the CM may recommend embedding structural health monitoring systems during construction, enabling the owner to track asset performance in real time and inform maintenance strategies.

By maintaining data continuity from planning and design through operations, the integrated CM helps ensure that digital investments deliver long-term value.

Prioritizing environmental stewardship

Beyond constructability considerations, environmental stewardship is a critical dimension for infrastructure projects that cross waterways or are located within or adjacent to sensitive ecosystems. Managing these constraints effectively requires early stakeholder coordination and a clear understanding of how design and construction decisions influence environmental outcomes.

For example, at a river crossing with protected fish species and restricted in-water work windows, early CM input can evaluate foundation types and installation methods and recommend alternatives that mitigate environmental impacts. This strategy can yield collaborative solutions that address stakeholder priorities, facilitate permit compliance and maintain schedule certainty.

Building public trust and goodwill

A CM also understands the importance of engaging the community early and maintaining transparent, two-way communication throughout the project lifecycle to ensure that concerns are heard, understood and addressed as project constraints allow.

A successful CM translates complex concepts into understandable messaging and accessible outreach, provides consistent updates and clear expectations about construction activities and incorporates feedback into construction phasing, access planning and mitigation strategies.

Public trust is also a construction risk-management tool. When communities understand what is happening, why it is necessary and how impacts are being mitigated, projects are better positioned to maintain access, reduce disruption and preserve momentum.

Advancing Complex Transit Projects with Certainty

Complex urban transit bridge programs succeed when owners are empowered to make informed decisions early. By integrating CM leadership with local knowledge, national technical expertise, digital tools, environmental strategy and stakeholder coordination, owners can reduce uncertainty before it becomes disruption. For long-span transit bridges in dense urban corridors, integrated CM is not simply a delivery support function, but a framework for building certainty.

About the author:

William Torres, PE, CCM, is a Project Director for Construction Services at HNTB and a senior infrastructure leader with 26 years of experience delivering complex transportation projects across the United States. His experience spans major bridge, transit, highway, tunnel, and aviation programs, including leadership roles on the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge replacement, Houston Ship Channel Bridge program, and Woodrow Wilson Bridge replacement. William is a licensed Professional Engineer in New York and Texas and a Certified Construction Manager specializing in program and construction management, stakeholder coordination, and leading multidisciplinary teams to successfully deliver large, complex infrastructure projects.