June 4, 2015
Innovation of the Month: e-Construction
The Every Day Counts innovation of the month for June is e-Construction, the collection, review, approval and distribution of construction documents in a paperless environment.
e-Construction uses available technologies—including digital electronic signatures, electronic communication, secure file sharing, mobile devices and web-hosted data archival systems—to improve construction documentation management.
Through EDC-3, the Federal Highway Administration is partnering with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Innovation Initiative to encourage adoption of e-Construction to enhance productivity and accelerate project delivery.
FHWA's e-Construction Innovation Deployment Team is coordinating peer exchanges between transportation departments that have deployed e-Construction successfully and those that are exploring its use. At a May exchange in Portland, Maine, representatives from Iowa, Michigan and Utah shared their e-Construction experiences with the Maine Department of Transportation. The exchange included a discussion on next steps for e-Construction in Maine.
Want to know more about e-Construction?
- View the EDC-3 summit session on e-Construction to learn about best practices and highway agency success stories.
- See the AASHTO Innovation Initiative e-Construction page for additional resources.
- Contact Bryan Cawley, FHWA Construction Management Team leader and head of the e-Construction team, for peer exchange information.
Arizona Takes Innovation on the Road
The Arizona Council for Transportation Innovation hosted an Innovation Exchange in Prescott on streamlining project development and delivery. The May 18 exchange—the council’s first in 2015 and first held outside of Phoenix—drew about 20 on-site participants and more than 50 webinar connections. The panel discussion covered innovative ways smaller communities can deliver projects. The council launched the exchange series in 2014 to foster a culture of innovation in the state.
Design-Build Project Advances in Hawaii
FHWA has approved the individual Section 4(f) evaluation and National Environmental Policy Act reevaluation for the second phase of the Queen Kaahumanu Highway widening project on Hawaii's Big Island. The $80million design-build project will widen the highway from two to four lanes from KealakeheParkway to Keahole Airport Access Road. The Hawaii Department of Transportation finished phase one construction from Palani Road to Kealakehe Parkway in 2009.
Pennsylvania Universities Form Transportation Council
The University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University and Pennsylvania State University have joined the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and FHWA in the new Pennsylvania Council of Transportation Universities. PaCTU represents universities with common interests in transportation-related research, education and outreach. It complements the work of the Pennsylvania State Transportation Innovation Council and may fuel new innovations for the STIC to consider.
Virginia Interchange Wins Award
The Virginia Department of Transportation's first diverging diamond interchange project has won a merit award from the Design-Build Institute of America Mid-Atlantic Region for the project’s contractor. The Virginia DOT chose the diverging diamond design for the Zion Crossroads interchange at I-64 and U.S. 15 in Louisa County to enhance safety and capacity. The project was completed in April 2014 on time and under budget.
Photo: VDOT
See How Communities Use Road Diets
A new FHWA report, Road Diet Case Studies, features 24 examples of how road diets are being used throughout the United States. Road diets are a low-cost strategy that reallocates a road's cross-section to safely accommodate all users and provide operational benefits.
The report provides state and local agencies and tribal governments with examples and advice on planning and implementing road diets in their own jurisdictions.
