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South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State University assistant professor Phuong Nguyen will leverage artificial intelligence to streamline the project delivery process together with permitting, mitigation and compliance systems for South Carolina's Department of Transportation.  

Permits are necessary for any construction project, but the number of permits for any given project will vary.

Some require more, some require less. Regardless, permits create a large volume of paperwork that agencies, like state departments of transportation, must carefully go through. This process is work intensive and time-consuming.

South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State University assistant professor Phuong Nguyen is working to streamline the permitting and review process by leveraging artificial intelligence tools, including machine learning, natural language processing, and large language models.

"We are trying to optimize the permit review process and reduce the learning curve for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) personnel by developing a standardized template for permit drawings," Nguyen said.

A few years back, the South Carolina Department of Transportation identified three areas in the preconstruction process that affected its ability to deliver projects on time and on budget. One problem was the department's inability to consistently identify red flags in the permit process.

Nguyen believes his developed AI tools could quickly scan permitting documents and flag information that will require further human review.

"If we train the model properly, it will be able to determine if the permit has any issues or concerns, which can then be reviewed by USACE, for example," Nguyen said.

The model will be trained with historical documentation of past construction projects in South Carolina.

"The overarching goal of this project is to improve SCDOT program delivery to increase the efficiency and reliability of their road and bridge network and expedite the environmental permitting process for road and bridge projects," Nguyen added.

This project includes an interdisciplinary research team from SDSU, the University of Nebraska Lincoln, and the University of South Carolina.

The department has provided the team with $800,000 over three years to develop the AI-powered models and tools. If the project is successful, these tools could be applied to other states’ permitting and compliance systems, Nguyen said.