National Academies Press: OpenBook
Page i
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Accelerating Transportation Project and Program Delivery: Conception to Completion. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14405.
×
Page R1
Page ii
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Accelerating Transportation Project and Program Delivery: Conception to Completion. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14405.
×
Page R2
Page iii
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Accelerating Transportation Project and Program Delivery: Conception to Completion. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14405.
×
Page R3
Page iv
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Accelerating Transportation Project and Program Delivery: Conception to Completion. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14405.
×
Page R4
Page v
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Accelerating Transportation Project and Program Delivery: Conception to Completion. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14405.
×
Page R5
Page vi
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Accelerating Transportation Project and Program Delivery: Conception to Completion. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14405.
×
Page R6
Page vii
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Accelerating Transportation Project and Program Delivery: Conception to Completion. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14405.
×
Page R7

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

TRANSPORTAT ION RESEARCH BOARD WASHINGTON, D.C. 2010 www.TRB.org N A T I O N A L C O O P E R A T I V E H I G H W A Y R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M NCHRP REPORT 662 Subscriber Categories Highways • Administration and Management Accelerating Transportation Project and Program Delivery: Conception to Completion Dennis Keck Hina Patel Anthony J. Scolaro JACOBS ENGINEERING GROUP INC. Morristown, NJ Arnold Bloch Christopher Ryan HOWARD/STEIN-HUDSON ASSOCIATES, INC. New York, NY Research sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration

NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM Systematic, well-designed research provides the most effective approach to the solution of many problems facing highway administrators and engineers. Often, highway problems are of local interest and can best be studied by highway departments individually or in cooperation with their state universities and others. However, the accelerating growth of highway transportation develops increasingly complex problems of wide interest to highway authorities. These problems are best studied through a coordinated program of cooperative research. In recognition of these needs, the highway administrators of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials initiated in 1962 an objective national highway research program employing modern scientific techniques. This program is supported on a continuing basis by funds from participating member states of the Association and it receives the full cooperation and support of the Federal Highway Administration, United States Department of Transportation. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies was requested by the Association to administer the research program because of the Board’s recognized objectivity and understanding of modern research practices. The Board is uniquely suited for this purpose as it maintains an extensive committee structure from which authorities on any highway transportation subject may be drawn; it possesses avenues of communications and cooperation with federal, state and local governmental agencies, universities, and industry; its relationship to the National Research Council is an insurance of objectivity; it maintains a full-time research correlation staff of specialists in highway transportation matters to bring the findings of research directly to those who are in a position to use them. The program is developed on the basis of research needs identified by chief administrators of the highway and transportation departments and by committees of AASHTO. Each year, specific areas of research needs to be included in the program are proposed to the National Research Council and the Board by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Research projects to fulfill these needs are defined by the Board, and qualified research agencies are selected from those that have submitted proposals. Administration and surveillance of research contracts are the responsibilities of the National Research Council and the Transportation Research Board. The needs for highway research are many, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program can make significant contributions to the solution of highway transportation problems of mutual concern to many responsible groups. The program, however, is intended to complement rather than to substitute for or duplicate other highway research programs. Published reports of the NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM are available from: Transportation Research Board Business Office 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 and can be ordered through the Internet at: http://www.national-academies.org/trb/bookstore Printed in the United States of America NCHRP REPORT 662 Project 20-73 ISSN 0077-5614 ISBN 978-0-309-15490-1 Library of Congress Control Number 2010932218 © 2010 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Authors herein are responsible for the authenticity of their materials and for obtaining written permissions from publishers or persons who own the copyright to any previously published or copyrighted material used herein. Cooperative Research Programs (CRP) grants permission to reproduce material in this publication for classroom and not-for-profit purposes. Permission is given with the understanding that none of the material will be used to imply TRB, AASHTO, FAA, FHWA, FMCSA, FTA, or Transit Development Corporation endorsement of a particular product, method, or practice. It is expected that those reproducing the material in this document for educational and not-for-profit uses will give appropriate acknowledgment of the source of any reprinted or reproduced material. For other uses of the material, request permission from CRP. NOTICE The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, conducted by the Transportation Research Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. The members of the technical panel selected to monitor this project and to review this report were chosen for their special competencies and with regard for appropriate balance. The report was reviewed by the technical panel and accepted for publication according to procedures established and overseen by the Transportation Research Board and approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied in this report are those of the researchers who performed the research and are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board, the National Research Council, or the program sponsors. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, the National Research Council, and the sponsors of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the object of the report.

CRP STAFF FOR NCHRP REPORT 662 Christopher W. Jenks, Director, Cooperative Research Programs Crawford F. Jencks, Deputy Director, Cooperative Research Programs Andrew C. Lemer, Senior Program Officer Sheila A. Moore, Program Associate Eileen P. Delaney, Director of Publications Natalie Barnes, Editor NCHRP PROJECT 20-73 PANEL Field of Special Projects Debra R. Brisk, Kimley-Horn & Associates, Inc., Minneapolis, MN (Chair) David L. Boswell, Texas DOT, Austin, TX Lisa B. Choplin, Maryland State Highway Administration, Baltimore, MD Charles C. Fielder, California DOT, Eureka, CA C. K. Leuderalbert, Tallahassee, FL Norman H. Roush, URS Corporation, Scott Depot, WV Jeffrey S. Russell, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI Robert J. Samour, Arizona DOT, Phoenix, AZ Rick Smith, Washington State DOT, Seattle, WA Joyce N. Taylor, Maine DOT, Augusta, ME Keith Moore, FHWA Liaison Christopher J. Schneider, FHWA Liaison James T. McDonnell, AASHTO Liaison Frederick Hejl, TRB Liaison AUTHOR ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The research reported herein was performed under NCHRP Project 20-73 by Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Jacobs), Howard/Stein-Hudson Associates, Inc. (HSH), and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VTTI). Jacobs (formerly Edwards and Kelcey, Inc.) was the contractor for this study, with HSH and VTTI serving as consultants. Dennis Keck, PE, PP, Director of Project Development at Jacobs, was the Project Director and Principal Researcher. The other authors of this report are Hina Patel, PMP, Senior Designer at Jacobs and co- Principal Researcher; Anthony J. Scolaro, AICP, PP, Principal Planner at Jacobs; Arnold J. Bloch, Princi- pal at HSH and co-Principal Researcher; Christopher Ryan, Principal, Public Involvement and Strategic Planning at HSH and co-Principal Researcher; and Veronica Bailey-Simmons, Melissa Budsock, Max Talbot-Minkin, and Ryan Walsh, all of HSH. VTTI personnel conducted the literature search under the direction of Dr. Ray D. Pethtel. The work was done under the general supervision of Mr. Keck at Jacobs. C O O P E R A T I V E R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M S

NCHRP Report 662 describes how selected transportation agencies have reduced the time required to complete the project delivery process. This process takes new or renewed trans- portation facilities and services from conception to completion, ready for users. Project delivery is a primary indicator of an agency’s effectiveness. Individual highway and other transportation projects are developed under programs intended to implement agency and legislative initiatives and other public policy. The way programs are organized and managed can determine the speed and efficiency of project development. Accelerating program func- tions can speed up project delivery. This report describes the experiences of eight state departments of transportation (DOTs) that made improvements in their project delivery and the lessons to be learned from their experiences. The information will be useful to DOT managers seeking to ensure that their agencies’ organization, policies, and program opera- tions facilitate project delivery. Transportation agencies seek continually to improve their managerial, organizational, and operational effectiveness and project delivery—the process that takes new or renewed transportation facilities and services from conception to completion—is a primary indica- tor of an agency’s performance. Individual highway and other transportation projects are developed under programs intended to implement agency and legislative initiatives and other public policy. The way programs are organized and managed influence the speed and efficiency of project development. Improving efficiency in program functions can speed up project delivery. The delivery process includes planning, programming, design, construction, and related activities. Accelerating delivery entails addressing environmental review issues in a timely manner, acquiring rights-of-way from multiple property owners, developing context- sensitive solutions in design, securing approvals from myriad government agencies, under- standing and addressing various community concerns, assuring that project development resources are available when needed, and identifying and reducing impediments to decision making. It is not unusual for major projects to take five to seven years in the development phases and then three to four years more in construction; projects take far longer when sig- nificant community, environmental, or property acquisition issues must be resolved. Slow project delivery increases congestion and project expenses, adversely affects safety, imposes social costs, and impedes economic development. Much research on accelerating delivery has focused on tools and business practices that can speed the completion of particular phases of the project delivery process. Few studies have addressed the subject of acceleration from a holistic perspective, looking at the agency and program context and full delivery process from initial conception to completion of con- F O R E W O R D By Andrew C. Lemer Staff Officer Transportation Research Board

struction. Most agencies have been organized to manage the sequential phases of project delivery individually, without consideration of the overall process. Project development for these agencies entails a series of formal hand-offs between organizational units, with each unit responsible only for its own phase. Delays that arise, however, often are a result of factors that influence several project deliv- ery phases, such as an agency’s internal management procedures, legal requirements, and funding uncertainties. In addition, delays are an outgrowth of the way programs are struc- tured and administered. Making changes to expedite completion of each individual phase may improve project delivery, but opportunities to make improvements through better organization and management of the delivery process overall are lost. This report is the product of NCHRP Project 20-73, intended to describe these opportu- nities to improve the overall delivery process and how DOTs and other agencies may take advantage of them. The research provides examples and guidance regarding best practices for accelerating program and project delivery while maintaining quality. A team led by Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Morristown, NJ, conducted this research. While the project entailed a comprehensive literature review and generic assessment of fac- tors contributing to delays in project delivery, an in-depth review of how eight DOTs achieved noteworthy improvements in their project delivery performance is the core of the work. The research team reviewed agency documents and conducted interviews with key personnel in each agency. The case studies reveal common themes, including factors con- tributing to success; impediments, advantages, and disadvantages of acceleration strategies, techniques, and practices; and organizational and process issues affecting delivery.

C O N T E N T S 1 Summary 4 Chapter 1 Introduction and Background 4 Introduction 5 Background 8 Chapter 2 Literature Review 8 Overview 9 Defining Project and Program 10 Motivational Factors 12 Chapter 3 Research Findings 12 Organizational Structure 13 Project Prioritization and Selection 13 Funding 13 Performance Measures 14 Scoping and Community Involvement 14 Property Impacts 15 Environmental Concerns 15 Final Design and Construction 16 Chapter 4 Accelerating Program and Project Delivery 16 Constraints to Accelerated Delivery 18 Shifts in DOT Cultures—The Intellectual Revolution 19 Trends and Challenges 30 Chapter 5 Best Practices—Case Study Reports 30 California: Performance-Based, Outcome-Driven Results for Program Delivery 38 Maine: A Bridge Program with Accountable Teamwork and Leadership 42 Maryland: Performance Measures for Program Delivery 50 Missouri: A Practical Program of Setting and Meeting High-Performance Expectations 60 New Jersey: Pipelines to Project Delivery 69 North Carolina: Realigning for the 21st Century and Beyond 77 Texas: Evergreen Contracts for Efficiency in Project Delivery 81 Utah: Construction Manager–General Contractor 87 Chapter 6 Implementation and Suggested Research 87 Implementation 87 Suggested Research 89 Chapter 7 Conclusions 91 References

Next: Summary »
Accelerating Transportation Project and Program Delivery: Conception to Completion Get This Book
×
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 662: Accelerating Transportation Project and Program Delivery: Conception to Completion explores the experiences of eight state departments of transportation that made improvements in their project delivery and examines the lessons to be learned from their experiences.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!