Modeling the Effect of a Road Construction Project on Transportation System Performance

Road construction projects create physical changes on roads that result in capacity reduction and travel time escalation during the construction project period. The reduction in the posted speed limit, the number of lanes, lane width and shoulder width at the construction zone makes it difficult for the road to accommodate high traffic volume. Therefore, the goal of this research is to model the effect of a road construction project on travel time at road link-level and help improve the mobility of people and goods through dissemination or implementation of proactive solutions. Data for a resurfacing construction project on I-485 in the city of Charlotte, North Carolina (NC) was used evaluation, analysis, and modeling. A statistical t-test was conducted to examine the relationship between the change in travel time before and during the construction project period. Further, travel time models were developed for the freeway links and the connecting arterial street links, both before and during the construction project period. The road network characteristics of each link, such as the volume/ capacity (V/C), the number of lanes, the speed limit, the shoulder width, the lane width, whether the link is divided or undivided, characteristics of neighboring links, the time-of-the-day, the day-of-the-week, and the distance of the link from the road construction project were considered as predictor variables for modeling. The results obtained indicate that a decrease in travel time was observed during the construction project period on the freeway links when compared to the before construction project period. Contrarily, an increase in travel time was observed during the construction project period on the connecting arterial street links when compared to the before construction project period. Also, the average travel time, the planning time, and the travel time index can better explain the effect of a road construction project on transportation system performance when compared to the planning time index and the buffer time index. The influence of predictor variables seem to vary before and during the construction project period on the freeway links and connecting arterial street links. Practitioners should take the research findings into consideration, in addition to the construction zone characteristics, when planning a road construction project and developing temporary traffic control and detour plans

Sustainable infrastructure procurement in Australia: Standard vs. project practices

The Australian Government and most Australian road authorities have set ambitious greenhouse gas emission (GHGe) reduction targets for the near future, many of which have translated into action plans. However, previous research has shown that the various Australian state road authorities are at different stages of implementing ‘green’ initiatives in construction planning and development, with considerable gaps in their monitoring, tendering, and contracting. This study illustrates the differences between procurement standards and project specific practices that aim to reduce GHGe from road construction projects in three of the largest Australian road construction clients, with a focus on the tools used, contract type and incentives for better performance

Conceptual design and analysis of roads and road construction machinery for initial lunar base operations

Recent developments have made it possible for scientists and engineers to consider returning to the Moon to build a manned lunar base. The base can be used to conduct scientific research, develop new space technology, and utilize the natural resources of the Moon. Areas of the base will be separated, connected by a system of roads that reduce the power requirements of vehicles traveling on them. Feasible road types for the lunar surface were analyzed and a road construction system was designed for initial lunar base operations. A model was also constructed to show the system configuration and key operating features. The alternate designs for the lunar road construction system were developed in four stages: analyze and select a road type; determine operations and machinery needed to produce the road; develop machinery configurations; and develop alternates for several machine components. A compacted lunar soil road was selected for initial lunar base operations. The only machinery required to produce this road were a grader and a compactor. The road construction system consists of a main drive unit which is used for propulsion, a detachable grader assembly, and a towed compactor

Economic Impacts of a New Road Network in San-En Region, Japan: A Spatial Computable General Equilibrium Model

In this paper, we aim to evaluate impacts of a new road network on the regional economy in San-en, Japan. San-en area is a boundary region between Aichi and Shizuoka Prefectures where the industrial sector is concentrated. The regional economy in San-en strongly depends on the regional transportation networks. Recently, a new road construction is planned in the region. The efficiency of road investment is expected for the regional economy. We construct a spatial computable general equilibrium model to evaluate the border economy. The spatial economic impacts of a new road construction are analyzed by the numerical simulation under several scenarios.

EX ANTE CONSTRUCTION COSTS IN THE EUROPEAN ROAD SECTOR: A COMPARISON OF PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS AND TRADITIONAL PUBLIC PROCUREMENT

Theoretical literature suggests a variety of reasons why a public-private partnership (PPP)should exhibit higher costs of construction than traditionally procured public infrastructure projects. The bundling of construction and operation contracts in a PPP give the private partner greater incentives to make investments in the construction phase to lower subsequent operation and maintenance costs. Also, the transfer of the construction risk to the private partner should be explicitly priced in a PPP. We use data on ex ante construction costs of road projects in Europe to test the existence and the magnitude of any such difference between PPPs and traditional procurement. We estimate the ex ante cost of a PPP road to be, on average, 24% more expensive than a traditionally procured road, all other things equal. This estimate corresponds by and large to reported ex post cost overruns in traditionally procured public roads. To the extent that the two measures are representative, this suggests that the largest part of the ex ante construction cost difference originates from the transfer of construction risk. This, in turn, implies that other possible sources of higher PPP construction costs, including bundling, seem to be of second-order importance in the road sector. The analysis does not allow drawing normative conclusions about the desirability of PPP as a procurement method as it focuses only on one cost component in isolation, without being able to quantify its impact on life-cycle costs and benefits.Construction costs; Road sector; public-private partnership; public procurement; infrastructure projects; Europe

Toll roads: a thin end of the wedge? – if only they were

Nigel Keohane argues that privatising roads could lead to new road construction that would create jobs and bring substantial economic gains from reduced congestion. A politically feasible scheme could also include shared ownership for road users through ‘voucher mutualisation’ of the Strategic Roads Network

Development of traffic and transport tunnels in Czech Republic in past decades

The paper presents a review of the history, current constructions and the most important plans in constructing railway and road tunnels in the Czech Republic. Individual tunnels are briefly, technically described; other significant characteristics of the works are presented, including the tunnelling method which was used during the construction. The only method used in tunnel construction after 1989 is the New Austrian Tunnelling Method. After 1990, 15 large tunnels have been completed using New Austrian Tunnelling Method – 8 railway tunnels and 7 motorway and road ones in Czech republic. Owing to the dominating application of the NATM, a number of technologies associated mainly with excavation support and stabilisation of the overburdeen has developed in our country. The excellent tradition of our underground construction industry and the construction of long tunnels will require full-face tunnel machines in the near future

The Challenges and Obstacles of Post-Disaster Road Infrastructure Reconstruction in the Pre-Construction Phase

Purpose The reconstruction of road infrastructure in the post-disaster context require different approach when compared with road projects in the normal development context. Disaster recovery projects are seen as having their own unique identity, particularly due to stakeholder issues, resource challenges, capability issues, and even long-term reliability concerns. This paper invites a discussion regarding the challenges and obstacles identified in the reconstruction of road infrastructure in a post-disaster reconstruction setting, and focuses the discussion on the pre-construction phase. Design/ Methodology/ Approach The challenges and obstacles presented in this paper are based on the literature and the empirical evidence collected from the research in three case study districts in Aceh, Indonesia. Twenty-eight face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with stakeholders of road infrastructure at the local, provincial and national level, and represented by respondents from the public works, planning agency, disaster management agency, consultant, contractors, and donor agencies. The findings were triangulated with the literature and consulted with five experts in the road infrastructure and disaster reconstruction area. Findings The identified challenges and obstacles are divided into three groups of discussion; planning and programming, road design, and procurement. Whilst some of these challenges are not unique to post-disaster context, the scale of the risks had been undermined. Originality/ value This paper identifies the challenges and obstacles of a road project in the post-disaster setting from the pre-construction perspective. Identification of these challenges and obstacles may help improve the implementation of post-disaster road infrastructure reconstruction projects in future recovery projects, particularly in the developing world