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In highway construction, completing projects on time is critical. However, when projects are not completed on time, one of the aspects that is often neglected by the state departments of transportation (DOTs), which causes delays in highway construction, is project closeout. The project closeout phase, if delayed, not only has consequences for transportation agencies and contractors, but also leads to substantial social costs to the public. Despite the potential magnitude of the impact, there is limited knowledge about the factors that cause project closeout delays or about strategies for timely highway construction project closeouts. This study identified the causes that delay highway project closeouts, raises awareness of the implications of delays, and provides recommendations for efficient highway project closeout practices. The research methodology included an extensive literature review, a survey questionnaire (40 state DOTs participating), and case studies of eight state DOTs. The results showed that difficulties in attaining the required documentation, claims and litigations, managing multiple funding sources, a lack of urgency from local utilities/entities, and the lack of sufficient DOT project staff are major factors that delay project closeout. When a highway construction project is not closed out in a timely manner, the DOT can be subject to additional costs, obsolete funding sources, loss of project documentation, loss of staff with project knowledge (through retirement/attrition), and potential adverse impacts on internal and external relationships. The authors provide recommendations for state DOTs to mitigate closeout delays and help ensure timely finalization of highway construction projects.

State departments of transportation (DOTs) increasingly use visualization and modeling technologies for delivering transportation projects across the United States. Advanced and innovative technologies have the ability to improve various construction processes and tasks while making the construction process more efficient and productive. Visualization and modeling technologies, which include building information modeling for infrastructure, light detection and ranging, virtual reality, and augmented reality, are becoming more commonplace in transportation construction. Yet, the use of these technologies varies among state DOTs. The intent of this study is to investigate the use of visualization and modeling technologies for transportation construction. This study employed a triangulation research methodology including an extensive literature review, survey questionnaire of DOTs, and seven case studies. Results of the study show that 92% of state DOTs use visualization and modeling technologies for construction. Then, 81% of DOTs use visualization and modeling technologies for constructability reviews, 38% use them for documentation of as-builts and simulating bridge and structure construction, and 35% use them for quality management, inspections, and monitoring progress of work. The main barriers to using visualization and modeling technologies include legal concerns with using digital models as contract documents, incompatibilities in software and hardware between the DOTs and contracted parties, and the appropriate knowledge, skills, and abilities required to use visualization and modeling technologies for construction. The findings from this study provides valuable information for state DOTs to approach their implementation and use of visualization and modeling technologies for transportation construction delivery.

Geothermal heat pump (GHP) systems are more concentrated to moderate climate regions, although the potential for GHP systems in hot and humid climates is possible as past research efforts have demonstrated this using simulations and commercial case examples. This research investigates the use of residential GHP systems for the hot and humid climate found in southern Louisiana. The authors collected field performance information, including initial system cost, and electricity consumption and costs from two residential case studies in which each case included one home with a conventional heating and cooling system and one home with a GHP system. Using a comparative analysis and analysis of variance, results illustrate that initial cost of GHP system in the first case was $13,285 more and the second case was $17,588 more than the installation costs of a conventional system. Further, the GHP system payback period depends on the whether the design uses a horizontal or vertical ground loop, and the designer and contractor’s quality and experience in performing the GHP work as the first case resulted in a payback period of 70 years while the second case had a payback period of only seven years. Findings show that when an appropriate installation occurs, GHP system can save consumption and energy costs for residential homes in hot and humid climates.

PurposeThis research investigates procedures and effective practices on staffing needs and utilization for successful implementation of alternative contracting methods (ACMs) in the United Sates, including design–build (D–B) and construction manager/general contractor (CM/GC) delivery methods.Design/methodology/approachThe review of published empirical studies, a national survey of transportation agencies and case studies of highway agencies form the basis of the conclusions in this research. In addition to the national survey, with 46 of 50 agencies participating, the research presents case studies from five highway agencies in the United States including the following: California, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota and Virginia. These five case studies were selected from agencies that have extensive experience in delivering ACM projects. The case studies involved a thorough procedural review and structured interviews of agency personnel. The agencies then validated the results and conclusions.FindingsThe results showed that implementing ACM projects requires different knowledge, skills and management and coordination efforts than traditional design–bid–build (D–B–B) projects. The study found that the key success factors of implementing ACMs are the following: (1) establishment of an ACM champion; (2) active involvement of key staff throughout the ACM project development process; (3) appropriate use of consultants and (4) ACM training and staff development.Research limitations/implicationsThe issue on how to attract and retain talented staff and a committed core workforce with appropriate skills and competences for ACM implementation is vital for highway agencies, but it lacks information and guidance. The chief limitation of this research is that the primary data were collected from highway agencies in the United Sates. Any future research should include more data to enhance the validity of this study outside of the public transportation sector.Practical implicationsDeveloping a sustainable level of core staff plays an important role in implementing an ACM program. The result of this research will help transportation agencies and other public owners to develop effective staffing strategies for successful implementation of ACMs. The findings of this research also address the appropriate use of consultants to supplement core staff with regard to delivery of ACM projects.Originality/valueThis research is the first attempt to examine the staffing needs and utilization for ACM projects.

In the United States, construction contracts require that contractors submit surety bonds, hence shifting the contractor’s risks to the sureties. In order to take on the risks of project completion, the sureties employ a complex time-consuming evaluation process that assesses several factors of a contractor that are subjective to make a surety credit recommendation. Several small and emerging contractors find it very difficult to attain bonding capacities as they do not know the factors that go into the sureties’ consideration to extend surety credit. The purpose of this study is to identify the surety bonding criterion that influences bonding decisions through a series of interviews with surety professionals possessing extensive experience in the bonding evaluation process. The outcome is a list of factors that underwriters consider in issuing a surety credit to contractors. Understanding the surety bonding criteria employed by underwriters enhances contractors’ ability to secure required bonding capacities for their future projects.

From the relational contract approaches currently emphasized in construction, researchers have noted that there is enough evidence pointing toward social psychological theories of team form...

Working on construction projects can be complicated and challenging. There are many different entities and individuals involved with a project, and no two projects are the same no matter how similar the design may be. Construction engineers today need to be able to competently communicate, address complexities, and team with the different parties that each project possesses. In addition, the construction industry continues to evolve and advance with the use of new technologies, materials, and practices. For new, inexperienced construction engineers to succeed in the construction industry, they need to become well-educated in the core knowledge of construction and engineering as well as understand how to use new technologies and practices effectively and efficiently, such as building information modeling, sustainability, and lean construction. Communicating and working with the entities that construct a project, called subcontractors and trade partners, needs to be as important as learning construc...

Determining an appropriate delivery method for highway projects is a complex process. This paper presents a decision support approach to assist highway agencies in evaluating and selecting the most suitable delivery method for their projects. The approach uses a matrix to consider three fundamental delivery methods currently in use by the highway industry: design–bid–build, design–build, and construction manager–general contractor. The approach, which is in use by the Colorado Department of Transportation (DOT), includes four primary selection factors (delivery schedule, complexity and innovation, level of design, and initial project risk assessment) and four secondary selection factors (cost, staff experience and availability, level of oversight and control, and competition and contractor experience) in the delivery decision. These eight selection factors, along with opportunities and challenges for each delivery method, were identified through a literature search and were tested by discussions and workshops with innovative contracting leaders from the Colorado DOT, FHWA, the American Council of Engineering Companies, Associated General Contractors of America, and the University of Colorado. The approach enables an initial risk assessment to occur early in the project development process and before the project delivery decision. The project delivery selection matrix promotes a better understanding of project goals, risks, and opportunities and enhances alignment among project participants. The approach has been successfully tested and implemented through eight projects of varying scope throughout Colorado. This paper presents the project delivery selection matrix along with an illustrative case study to demonstrate the results. The research provides a defensible and repeatable process for highway agencies to select an appropriate delivery method for their projects.

Traditional project design and construction delivery is segmental. Researchers and practitioners often cite the separation, or “silo effect,” as a reason for poor project outcomes. In response, new forms of integrated contracts have emerged, fostering more collaborative efforts and a focus on successful project outcomes, instead of individual organizational outcomes. Relational contract theory provides a basis for understanding these new integrated forms of agreement through a set of relational contracting norms. This study operationalizes the relational contracting norms designed to measure project integration. The norms and their dimensions were developed through a rigorous construct mapping methodology and then tested, analyzed, and validated with a survey of owners and owners’ representatives from 314 completed projects using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The study validates the measures and demonstrates the potential that the measures have to illuminate the nature of relationa...

Energy usage continues to increase across the globe, which has resulted in increased methods for conserving energy. However, most of these methods for decreasing energy consumption focus on political and economic policies, as well as curtailing usage by promoting individual energy-efficient products and practices such as appliances, electronics, and improved building envelope maintenance. To determine better methods and policies to conserve energy, individual habits and perceptions of energy usage need to be considered. One such consideration is a household’s perception of energy usage habits and the belief or self-efficacy that becoming an energy saver can make an impact. For this research, a field study was completed in the rural community of Woodbine, Iowa, to determine if self-efficacy via perceptions of energy consumption could predict actual energy usage. To examine the impact of self-efficacy on energy usage, perceptions of energy consumption were compared with actual changes in energy usag...

Concurrent engineering is the process of reducing the total project delivery time by overlapping activities that normally occur sequentially. The benefits are a shortening of delivery time and a possible reduction in overall costs. However, there are potential risks to overlapping dependent activities. The interaction between an upstream activity and a downstream activity relies on how information evolves in the upstream activity and how sensitive the downstream activity is to that changing information. This implies that if an upstream activity is slow to evolve information and a downstream activity is highly sensitive to changing information, the risk in overlapping these activities will be higher than activities that are fast to evolve and not as sensitive to changing information. The risk can manifest in rework, or reperforming some aspect of the downstream activity because of the evolution of the upstream activity and the amount of overlapping used. This research developed computer simulation models to better understand the potential risk of rework. The simulation models allow for overlapping different types of slow- and fast-evolving upstream activities with high- and low-sensitivity downstream activities using overdesign and early release strategies and different amounts of overlapping. The overall findings show that simulations of overlapping activities yield a reliable approach to modeling concurrent engineering activities. The simulations provide information on the probability of rework based on the different combinations of evolution, sensitivity, overlapping strategy, and the percent amount of overlapping used between the upstream and downstream activity. The use of computer simulations and modeling of overlapping activities therefore allows engineers and managers to understand the potential risks and what strategies to apply when utilizing concurrent engineering on a project.

Construction projects primarily use three conventional delivery methods: design-bid-build (DBB); design-build (DB); and construction manager / general contractor (CMGC). Integrated project delivery (IPD) is an emerging delivery method that emphasizes the relational aspect between multiple organizations. It defines success by the outcomes of the project, not the individual organization’s outcomes. This is a culture change for the construction industry as IPD attempts to assimilate organizations as a team to focus on the project goals. This study examines the association between project integration and contracting relationships using relational contract theory behavioral norms. Relational contract theory states that long-term contracts are complex and that the interactions, communication, and understanding between contracting organizations are the most critical and intricate aspects to the success of a contract. Contractual behavior norms are the expected behaviors occurring between contracting organizations, which can “make or break” a project. To determine the connection between project integration and relational contracting, this study uses a content analysis to investigate standard construction contract language for the existence and frequency of contractual behavior norms. The results of this exploration illustrate that: (1) behavior norms exist in construction contracts; (2) construction contracts are generally relational in nature; and (3) IPD contracts are more relational than DBB, DB, and CMGC contracts.

The use of performance measures for evaluating projects or agencies as a whole is not a new idea. Performance measures have been in use for many years in the private and public highway construction sectors for a variety of areas and tasks. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and federal transportation funding are now requiring state highway agencies to develop and document performance measures throughout their agency operations. However, few highway agencies use performance measures for cost estimating. This study synthesizes, categorizes, and validates existing performance measures for cost estimating of highway projects to assist with improving estimating accuracy. It provides a foundation for the development and use of new performance measures that agencies can share and use to improve estimating procedures. Performance measures for estimating were developed through an extensive literature review and content analysis to synthesize measures specifically for cost estimating in addition to categorizing the cost-estimating performance measures. These categories and performance measures were then validated with a questionnaire and interviews of selected state highway agency estimating experts. The main categories for these performance measures are bidding accuracy, estimating accuracy, competition effects, estimating processes, and contingency amounts. The results then provide a comprehensive list of valid performance measures for cost estimating in use today by highway agencies and a foundation for developing future measures.

It is well established that the project cost, quality, safety, and duration are the four critical elements that contribute to project success. Past literature has established theoretical relationships between construction safety and quality on the basis of opinions of industry experts. This is the first empirical inquiry into the relationship between safety and quality, testing the null hypothesis that there is no statistical relationship among quality performance indicators and safety performance indicators. To test this hypothesis, empirical data were collected from 32 building construction projects, ranging in scope from $50,000 to $300 million dollars. Several quality metrics (e.g., cost of rework per $1M project scope and rate of rework per 200,000 worker-hours) were used as predictor variables and first aid and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable injury rates were used as response variables. Linear regressions among the predictor and response variables showed that...