Techniques for Effective Highway Construction Projects in Congested Urban Areas (2011)

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35 To more specifically understand how states manage urban construction contracts, four case studies were examined in detail. This chapter focuses on the details of these four projects. INDIANA—SUPER 70 The Indiana DOT (INDOT) has tried various strategies to deal with construction in urban corridors in the Indianapolis metro- politan area. One of those efforts was the Super 70 Project, which involved totally reconstructing 5 miles and eight lanes of Interstate 70. This $160 million project was completed in 9 months. Much of the effort to complete this project involved managing congestion, because the average daily traffic in this corridor was in the range of 170,000 vehicles. Walsh was the contractor on this DB project, and American Structure Point, Janssen, and Spaans were the engineers. Specific strategies employed by INDOT included: • One of the challenges that could have delayed the project was a railroad crossing. INDOT engineers saw the poten- tial impacts of making major changes to the railroad itself. Consequently, they redesigned the railroad crossing to avoid major impacts and delay. This happened during preliminary engineering so that it would not interrupt construction. • Interstate 70 traverses Indianapolis as a key east–west corridor, with value regionally as well as nationally in terms of freight movement. On any given day truck traffic accounts for 20% to 25% of all traffic along this corridor. To accommodate the accelerated construction sequence and provide the optimal work areas for the contractor, lanes were narrowed below the standard 12-ft width. With lanes narrowed during construction, it was imper- ative that truck traffic be reduced as much as possible. To do this the agency sought a change in legislation that allowed them to force trucks to I-465 as a detour and levy large fines for those who failed to comply. This diversion was effective and significantly alleviated traffic in the corridor during construction. • Optimizing throughput in the corridor was essential to managing congestion and public impacts during con- struction. In addition, the accelerated approach stipulated in the contract allowed the state and contractor to manage merges on and off the freeway. Ultimately, the traffic control plans called for closing many exits, with only a few on-ramps and no off-ramps opened. This allowed traffic to move more freely through the corridor and eliminated many of the weave movements typical of this setup. • Business access was a concern in the planning phase of the project and INDOT took deliberate steps to minimize the impacts they would experience during construction. The agency spent considerable time working with adja- cent businesses to make sure the public would still be able to reach these properties. A combination of public information and communications with the business owners resulted in a successful relationship between the state and the important stakeholders. In the end, INDOT found that these efforts allowed the businesses along the project length to flourish when the opposite could have been true. • Managing the remaining capacity during construction was paramount to the success of the project. With lane restrictions and on- and off-ramp movements significantly impacted, finding ways to maximize capacity became imperative. In the planning process, the use of movable barriers to change the flow in one freeway lane to accom- modate the directional split was determined to be a sound approach. The proof was in its successful application to the benefit of the users in the corridor. In all, Super 70 was a great success for the state and the travel- ing public. It showed how careful planning and thoughtful execution of the plan all contributed to a great project. MISSOURI—THE NEW I-64 The Missouri DOT (MoDOT) delivered one of its most sig- nificant projects in many years by rebuilding 11 miles of I-64 in St. Louis from west of Spoede Road to east of Kingshighway Boulevard. The contractor joint venture was called Gateway Constructors and consisted of a joint venture of Granite Con- struction Company, Fred Weber Inc., and Millstone Bangert Inc., with Parsons Transportation and URS as design engi- neers. MoDOT administered the project with in-house staff. Work started in March 2007 and the project was finished in December 2009. Project work items included 12 traffic inter- changes, new portland cement concrete pavement, drainage features, sound walls, connector roads and streets, and other typical urban work. CHAPTER TEN CASE STUDIES

This $535 million DB project advanced several innova- tive project approaches worthy of use elsewhere in the coun- try. The following include noteworthy project attributes: • Management support for the project was evident from the beginning. Pete Rahn, then Director of MoDOT, along with other key members of the management team gave unqualified support to the project and staff. • The project allowed for closing the corridor in two halves to accommodate speedier construction. Milestone incen- tives and disincentives were established around opening both the east and west halves of the project. The east half was closed from January to December of 2008, with an incentive of $2 million tied to the on-time reopening. The west half had a similar incentive if completed by December 2009. In both cases, the contractor achieved this goal. Actually, the project was completed approxi- mately a year ahead of the overall schedule. Many mem- bers of the project team associate this schedule gain with the ability to close down the east and west halves of the project to create highly efficient construction work zones to accomplish the work. This also reduced the number of traffic closures that would have been required had the complete corridor remained open during the whole project. • Incentives were not just focused on the early or late completion of the project. MoDOT believed that the contractor needed a greater stake in the overall success of the agency’s efforts to address the mobility needs of the region during construction. Consequently, $1 million in incentives were offered to the contractor’s work to promote regional mobility during the contract. Actions assessed by MoDOT to determine payment of this amount included traffic signal timing, signage, detour management, and context-sensitive mobility issues. Strong collaboration was required to make a difference in regional mobility, and the resulting joint efforts paid off with high levels of acceptance by the public of the inconveniences precipitated by the construction work itself. The full amount of this incentive was earned as well. • A strong public information team was formed with Linda Wilson and Dan Galvin leading the effort from MoDOT and Gateway Constructors, respectively. The respective staffs were co-located and operated in a seamless manner. Responsibilities were divided with- out regard for who represented which organization and many innovative public information strategies were implemented. The transparency of affiliation for Linda and Dan is noteworthy and reflects how well they worked together. Extensive use of the media, public interactions, very deliberate stakeholder management, and responsive- ness created a strong advocacy in the community for the project. In addition, it was realized that stakeholder relationships were an evolving effort, with messages and strategies fine-tuned throughout the project. 36 • A unique approach to the project delivery methodology included a revision to the normal DB process. In this case, MoDOT determined that its budget was fixed but desired that proposers offer their very best value for the available dollars. Sometimes referred to as “fixed price, variable scope,” this approach stipulates the amount of money available and then encourages the contractors to propose as much scope as possible. In this case, MoDOT believes they received more value for their budget than if they had used a more traditional procure- ment approach. • During the Environmental Impact Study process, a five-year period, the project manager, Lesley Hoffarth developed relationships with all of the stakeholder groups. She was then able to leverage and service these same relationships during the course of almost three years of construction. The trust developed before construction benefited project staff during intense periods of dis- ruption to the traveling public during the actual work. The New I-64 Project stands as an exemplar of the use of many key strategies for successful urban construction. Optimizing work zones, effective stakeholder management, early planning, and effective execution of those plans as well were all keys to their success. DB is also given credit by the team for many of the innovations that brought value to this important project. NEVADA—US-95 WIDENING In the Las Vegas metropolitan area, the Nevada DOT (NDOT) has a most challenging urban environment for significant transportation construction projects. Traffic volumes never seem to decrease, property values are high enough that the cost of purchasing ROW can be a major impediment to advancing any project, and business interests have a strong say in how work is managed. The US-95 widening project was con- structed under these circumstances and was successful in many ways. This project was one of six in this corridor and was designed to widen the freeway from 6 to 10 lanes and add a high-occupancy vehicle lane in each direction from I-15 to Warm Springs Road. Frehner was the contractor, with PBS&J as the state’s General Engineering Consultant. The contract format was DBB. Interesting aspects of this project that could be considered by other agencies included: • NDOT used penalties to ensure on-time pick up of traffic control after night closures were completed owing to heavy commute volumes. It understood the impact of a late “pick up” and wanted the contractor to be sensitive to this facet of commuting in the Las Vegas area. • NDOT learned much about project scheduling. In the planning process the state took into account many of

37 the factors that influence the project schedule as they worked to determine the duration of the project. They recognized that urban construction demands that work proceed in a different manner than other typical projects. Everything from jobsite access, work hours, delivery of materials, limited work zones, and other constraints all influence the contractor’s ability to prosecute the work and complete the project. In addition, work activities take more time and require different organizational efforts than previously experienced. These factors must be taken into account so that such contract matters as liquidated damages, incentives, completion dates, and milestones can be properly established. Thoughtful analysis of all these factors led NDOT to a better understanding of the schedule. Time spent planning paid dividends dur- ing construction that would not have otherwise been available. • NDOT bid this project as an A+B contract, meaning that in addition to price, a time component was associ- ated with picking the successful bidder. One lesson learned was that they found their schedule for the max- imum number of days to be so tight that the two firms bidding the project both selected the maximum number as the “B” component of their bid. NDOT ultimately derived no schedule benefit from the “B” component of the bidding process, owing to the extremely tight end date selected by the agency coupled with the work com- plexity. This result has caused them to assess their proj- ect impacts analysis previously mentioned and will assist them to further refine those efforts to gain a greater benefit on future projects. Constructing a project in an urban area such as Las Vegas brings with it virtually every challenge possible for such a project. High-traffic volumes, stakeholder issues that influence daily decisions, exorbitant ROW expenses, and many other factors make this work difficult under the best of circum- stances. NDOT did considerable planning leading up to the contract letting, but concedes it learned lessons about project scheduling and how that may or may not influence the pro- curement of their successful contractor. DALLAS HIGH FIVE The Dallas High Five project represents a variety of innov- ative approaches to the construction of a complex freeway interchange under some of the most challenging conditions in the country. This DBB project consisted of the reconstruction of the interchange between US-75 (North Central Expressway) and I-635 (Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway). The original three- level facility was rebuilt to a five-level configuration to accom- modate the average daily traffic of 500,000 that pass through the interchange. Valued at $262.9 million, it was the largest single contract ever awarded by the Texas DOT (TxDOT) at that time. The innovative strategies adopted by TxDOT for this project reduced the overall construction time frame from ten years to five, with the resulting benefits accruing to the state, the contractor, and, most importantly, to the stakeholders on the project. A number of the state’s innovations deserve mention: • This contract was originally intended to be divided up into five smaller projects and bid in succession as the schedule allowed. As a result of the compact nature of the job site it was going to be necessary to delay the award of successive contracts to avoid impacts and conflicts that would impede the work of adjacent contractors. By going to a single large contract, TxDOT was able to avoid the conflicts inherent with the smaller successive projects. • One of the reasons that TxDOT was able to construct the Dallas High Five as one contract was an innovative project financing strategy. On past projects the state would set aside sufficient funding in advance for each project and the use of such a practice would have pre- cluded a single large contract owing to cash flow limi- tations. However, by creating a cash flow model that matched available funding to the work being performed, the Dallas District was able to create a plan whereby a single contract could be awarded and then paid accord- ing to the finance plan. TxDOT found savings in over- all time, reduced costs owing to contract conflicts, and value from economies of scale resulting from going to the single contract. • A unique element of the project consisted in the delayed start to the actual construction. The project was awarded in April 2001, but the notice to proceed for construction was not issued until January 2002. It was referred to as the “delayed-start” clause. What this did was provide an extended mobilization period where the contractor could prepare its forces and equipment for the intense period of construction that lay ahead. During this time the contractor performed alternative design work and was able to bring innovations to the bridge design and erection process that saved additional time on the con- tract. This would not have been possible without the extra time allowed for mobilization. Although it may appear counterintuitive to give more time to save overall time this is exactly what TxDOT did. They credit much of the success of the project to his particular contract clause. • TxDOT adopted the “windowed milestone” concept for specific portions of the project instead of a specific date for completion of the work. A “windowed milestone” offered the contractor a specific amount of time to com- plete the work, but did not stipulate when the work would occur. In doing so they gave the contractor the flexibility to schedule and stage its work in an efficient manner. TxDOT believes that this strategy ultimately reduced the amount of time construction was occurring in front of businesses and thereby significantly mitigated the con- struction impacts.

• Lane rental was another strategy used by TxDOT for this project. In the contract documents the state offered the contractor the opportunity to close lanes and other elements of the roadway for periods of time with values assigned to each. The contractor could then plan its work according to the cost of the impact on the public, with the rental values varying depending on the time of day. TxDOT reported that this strategy resulted in 30% of the work being performed at night when traffic volumes were less and the impact on the public reduced. The Dallas High Five project is an excellent example of how a transportation agency can implement new tools and even some more seasoned strategies to accomplish positive 38 outcomes in a complex work environment. They are now using many of these same approaches on projects elsewhere in the state. These four case studies offer a more detailed glimpse into how agencies are using specific strategies to advance their projects and mitigate the normal impacts inherent in urban projects. As noted, no single approach is going to solve all of the problems on a given project but the thoughtful application of old strategies that have been successful in the past and the use of new and innovative tools can bring substantial benefits to everyone involved. Tailoring the tools to the projects is the key to their value and the overall success of the effort (35).