U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000


Skip to content
Facebook iconYouTube iconTwitter iconFlickr iconLinkedInInstagram

Focus

Federal Highway Administration / Publications / Focus / June 2010

Accelerating Infrastructure Innovations

Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-10-014
Date: June 2010

Meeting the Challenges of Today's Transportation Needs by Making Every Day Count

The logo of the Federal Highway Administration's Every Day Counts initiative. The logo features the words "innovation," "ingenuity," "invention," and "imagination."

For the Nation's highway community, meeting the challenges of today's transportation needs while working more efficiently, sustainably, and cost effectively means going beyond innovation and ingenuity. It means making every day count. Rapid deployment of proven technology and solutions to speed up project delivery are at the heart of the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) new Every Day Counts (EDC) initiative.

"EDC is designed to identify and deploy innovation aimed at shortening project delivery, enhancing the safety of our roadways, and improving environmental sustainability," said FHWA Administrator Victor M. Mendez.

EDC will initially focus on getting promising new technologies into the marketplace faster and speeding the delivery of major highway projects. Administrator Mendez has asked FHWA Deputy Administrator Greg Nadeau to lead this initiative. Priority technologies featured are:

Along with new technologies, FHWA aims to make innovative contracting standard business practice by supporting the deployment of accelerated project delivery methods. The Construction Manager/General Contractor (CM/GC) is a project delivery method where the owner contracts with a construction manager to provide constructability, scheduling, and pricing information during the design process. CM/GC allows State departments of transportation to remain active in the design process while assigning risks to the parties most able to mitigate them. CM/GC occupies the middle ground between design-bid-build and design-build. The CM/GC method has the potential to lower project costs, accelerate project completion, and reduce change orders.

In the alternative Design-Build project delivery method, the design and construction phases of a project are combined into one contract. This can result in significant time and cost savings and also provides the contractor with increased flexibility to be innovative.

The EDC initiative will also provide innovative approaches to improving the delivery process for projects that require an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) or other environmental document. The proposed initiatives will help State and local agencies speed project delivery by using the following time-saving practices:

For more information about EDC, contact Victoria Peters, Special Assistant to the Deputy Administrator, at victoria.peters@dot.gov. Focus will continue to provide updates on EDC initiatives in future issues.

Back to Articles in this Issue

Updated: 06/27/2017
Federal Highway Administration | 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE | Washington, DC 20590 | 202-366-4000