Construction

ACTT Workshop: Montana
January 26-28, 2004, Missoula, Montana

[Archived] Appendix B: Skill Set Descriptions

• Construction (Techniques, Automation, and Constructability) - Accelerated construction may press the contractor to deliver a quality product in confined time frames and areas, while maintaining traffic. Completion milestones and maintenance and protection of traffic are key elements visible to the traveling public. Allowing contractors to have input on design elements that would impact time or quality during construction can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the overall project completion. The use of automation to enhance construction equipment performance and contract administration should be explored and implemented.
• Traffic/Work Zone Safety - Enhanced safety and improved traffic management by corridor contracting should be considered. Developing and evaluating contract models may illustrate the best use of incentives to enhance safety and improve traffic flow during and after construction. Evaluating both the construction and maintenance work may help assess traffic and safety issues more fully than the conventional project-by-project approach.
• Right-of-Way/Utilities/Railroad Coordination - Right-of-way, utility, and RR delays have a serious impact on accelerated operations. More innovative solutions are required for both short and long-term time sensitive construction projects. Right-of-way considerations include State laws and procedures covering acquisition and relocation, numbers and types of businesses and residences that may be impacted, ready availability of additional right-of-way, and sometimes, the number of outdoor advertising structures in the project area. Other items to consider are industry responsiveness, incentive-based utility agreements, corridor approaches to utility agreements, contracting for utility work, and non-destructive methods of utility relocation. When applicable, close railroad coordination is essential for a project for construction access or work having an impact on the railroad lines.
• Public Relations/Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) - The vast majority of our nation's highway projects involve reconstruction of existing facilities, typically under or adjacent to traffic. It's imperative to partner with local entities and effectively inform the communities and the traveling public to minimize construction delays as well as adverse socio-economic impacts. This provides better information to the traveling public and politicians on the relationships among crashes, delays, mobility, total traffic volume, truck traffic volumes, and the need for lane closures during construction. Implement integrated ITS systems to communicate construction information to motorists via radio, Internet, wireless alters, along with incident management systems/services.
• Geotechnical and Materials - Subsurface conditions and issues should be explored to assess their impacts on the project. Based on the geography of the project, subsurface investigation may be complicated by traffic volume, environmental hazards, utilities, railroad property, and right-of-way. Pursue options to expedite and facilitate turnaround times in material testing for material acceptance and contractor payment. The use of innovative materials should be explored and encouraged on projects to maximize the creative characteristics of the designer and contractor. By identifying project performance goals and objectives, the designer and contractor have the maximum freedom to determine the appropriate methodology for constructing the project.
• Innovative Contracting - Explore the state-of-the art in contracting practices and obtain a better knowledge of how these techniques could be selected, organized, and assembled to match the specific situations needed on this project. Techniques to be considered include performance related specifications, warranties, design/build, maintain, operate, cost + time, partnering escalation agreements, lane rental, incentive/disincentives, value engineering, and any other innovative contracting techniques that would apply to the project.
• Environment - Scope-of-work and construction activities need to reflect environmental concerns to ensure the most accommodating and cost effective product while minimizing natural and socio- economic impacts.
• Structures (bridges, retaining walls, culverts, miscellaneous) - Accelerating the construction of structures will require deviation from standard practices for design and construction and include early coordination between designers and contractors. A systems approach from the "ground up" will be necessary instead of emphasis on individual components. Prefabrication, preassembly, incremental launching, lift-in, roll-in, etc., are systems or concepts that have a proven contribution to accelerating construction and should be understood and receive priority consideration. Designers have several options in structure types and materials to meet design requirements, but identifying the most accommodating system while minimizing adverse project impacts should be the objective.