Q & A With Trimble’s Cyndee Hoagland

Cyndee Hoagland is senior vice president for Trimble’s Public Sector and Enterprise Accounts. She is responsible for the strategic direction and execution of the ARTBA member firm’s technology serving federal, state, and local government, and for strategic global accounts and major infrastructure projects. Hoagland answered questions for the January/February issue of ARTBA’s Transportation Builder magazine.

TB: Accelerated innovation in transportation construction is a hot topic. What trends or technology deployments are you watching?

Cyndee Hoagland

CH: Although adoption of digital tools and processes is increasing among highway agencies, the data captured throughout the various phases of the project remain siloed and not easily shared across design, construction, and operations and maintenance departments. Building information modeling (BIM) and common data environment (CDE) tools enable streamlined data-modeling and workflows. Data is efficiently exchanged among stakeholders and across systems through various phases of the project lifecycle. Trimble Quadri, for example, allows for the right data to be accessible during the various handovers of information among stakeholders during project phases.

TB: The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes $100 million for digital construction management systems. What kind of impact do you think this will have on state transportation programs?

CH: This funding creates a safe environment for new proven technologies to be used on projects at scale. If implemented by state transportation departments and other project owners, technological advances in construction will enable infrastructure to be designed faster, cheaper, better, more efficiently and more sustainably than ever. This is particularly true for digital as-built technology, which are 3D models that bridge design, construction, and operations, enabling a project’s stakeholders—from an owner to the engineers to the contractors—to all work off the same model in real time.

TB: Can you highlight an innovative transportation construction project that stands out for its use of technology?

CH: Highway 169 project in Elk River, Minnesota, (photo above) which exceeded capacity, creating a bottleneck for travelers. The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) initiated a two-year, $158 million project to improve the 3-mile stretch of highway and adjacent streets. It was designed and delivered completely paperless to MnDOT using a 3D digital model and common data environment. Leveraging digital data helped identify an estimated $10 million in savings during the planning phase before construction.

TB: How can ARTBA members and the association’s Innovation & Technology Forum best prepare for the increase in digital construction technologies? What do members most need to be prepared for over the next few years?

CH: The new infrastructure law creates favorable momentum to push forward digital transformation in the public sector. State and local governments can seize this opportunity to digitize their design, construction, and asset management processes to meet the increasing demands for secure and seamless project digital delivery and reporting. Digital construction management offers a truly functional, single source of information that can be accessed by all stakeholders. These connected data environments will drive new partnerships and collaboration, improve construction workflows, shorten project life cycles, and lead to better outcomes. ARTBA members can lead the way to help the public sector cross the digital divide.

TB: Trimble acquired AgileAssets, an infrastructure asset management software provider, at the end of 2021. How is this acquisition expanding or enhancing your mission?

CH: The acquisition of AgileAssets allows Trimble to combine valuable data through the entire civil infrastructure asset lifecycle. Trimble was providing core capabilities for asset design and construction. We understood the need to connect that valuable data into the maintenance of an asset and beyond into planning a better and more sustainable rebuild in the future. The acquisition of AgileAssets into the Trimble family allows us to help our customers on their digital delivery journey.