Electronic Ticketing of Materials for Construction Management (2020)

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3 Introduction Electronic ticketing, or e-ticketing, offers an avenue for state transportation agencies (STAs) to improve the antiquated practice of collecting material load tickets. e-Ticketing presents the potential to enhance safety and project inspections, as well as data collection and analytics. This chapter entails an overview of the topic and synthesis study, attempting to align a reader’s perceptions and understanding of e-ticketing while highlighting the issues to be covered in the report. 1.1 Background Over the past decades, STAs have looked toward automating construction processes to increase productivity from growing infrastructure demands and staffing reductions. NCHRP Synthesis 450: Forecasting Highway Construction Staffing Requirements found that, “STAs are managing larger roadway systems with fewer in-house staff than they were 10 years ago. For the 40 STAs that responded to the survey, between 2000 and 2010 state-managed lane miles increased by an average of 4.10%, whereas the number of full-time equiva- lents (FTEs) decreased by 9.68%” (Taylor and Maloney, 2013). STAs have the potential to automate highway construction operations through the addition of e-Construction tech- nologies. This was an area of emphasis in rounds three and four of FHWA’s Every Day Counts (EDC) technology deployment initiative. FHWA defines e-Construction as “the creation, review, approval, distribution, and storage of highway construction documents in a paperless environment” (Federal Highway Administration, 2017a). E-Construction encompasses a wide range of technologies and processes that aim to improve construction effi- ciency and safety through eliminating the need to handle and track paper documentation. One collaborative e-Construction technology that has shown promising results in the industry is e-ticketing, though there have been other technologies explored for material tracking and delivery. A summary of several technological methods for material tracking are discussed in the literature review, with all of these having the goal of increased operations efficiency. Collecting paper load delivery tickets at highway construction projects is an outdated practice that exposes construction inspectors to many safety hazards. Activities such as walking in close proximity to moving equipment, climbing on the side trucks to retrieve paper tickets, and working next to high-speed traffic increases the risk of accidents at construc- tion sites. Additionally, archiving paper tickets for project documentation requires effort and resources to sort, organize, and store that can be automated easily with a digital project delivery platform. e-Ticketing technology collects and documents load delivery data, electronically allowing for safer and more efficient construction inspections and management. In addition to the load delivery information, e-ticketing systems can provide data regarding load cycles and installation of materials (e.g., asphalt and concrete paving, concrete structures, earthwork, C H A P T E R 1

4 Electronic Ticketing of Materials for Construction Management millings, and aggregate), which can be tracked by combining GPS and geographic information system (GIS) technologies. Further, this combination provides crucial quality and productivity data that can be difficult to track using traditional methods. Despite the obvious benefits of using e-ticketing, the implementation of this technology in the industry has been slow and challenging to many STAs. The first e-ticketing pilot on highway construction was conducted by Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) in 2015, and since then many states have tested this technology as a potential replacement for traditional paper tickets. Although e-tickets are generally regarded as being superior to paper-based tickets, most states are only in the piloting stages of testing this technology. These pilots typically entail working with local contractors and technology vendors to create systems that are suitable for individual STA needs. In the testing process, states are facing challenges such as deciding between procuring systems from an outside vendor of the technology or creating an in-house system, internal and/or external resistance to adoption, and a general lack of knowledge of the various uses of the technology in the industry. Looking past the expected challenges, successful implementation of e-ticketing can provide significant benefits to STAs that can result in efficiency gains and safety improvements on highway construction projects. 1.2 Synthesis Objective This synthesis seeks to gather state-of-practice information regarding the current and poten- tial uses of e-ticketing by STAs. Material tracking can potentially enhance highway safety and inspections, and improve data collection and documentation for STAs. e-Ticketing has received significant interest in the horizontal construction industry, yet little research exists to its dis- semination and performance. The purpose of this synthesis is to document and identify STAs that have experience using e-ticketing technology and to provide an overview of implementa- tion of these technologies to date and lessons learned that identify success factors and chal- lenges. To be specific, this synthesis collected the following information regarding the use of e-ticketing in the industry: • Material-specific tracking technologies being used by STAs, such as e-ticketing for asphalt, concrete, and aggregates; • Pilot efforts using e-ticketing and lessons learned to date; • Barriers to implementing e-ticketing for those agencies not using this technology; • Tools and applications available to implement e-ticketing; and • Knowledge gaps, future research needs, opportunities, and technologies for integrating e-ticketing into quality assurance/quality control and contract management. 1.3 Study Approach An extensive literature review on the topic provides the initial understanding on the cur- rent state of research and practice regarding material tracking technologies. The findings of the review are seen in Chapter 2. The existing literature and previous discussions with STAs assisted with the development of the survey questionnaire. A survey was created to capture the state of practice of e-ticketing within STAs. Under the guidance of the topic panel, the survey was divided into the following categories: Demographic Information, General e-Ticketing Use, Costs, Benefits, Implementation Challenges, Stakeholder Feedback, Barriers, Other Tracking Technologies, and Future Use and Research Needs. Qual- trics provided the platform for the creation and distribution of the electronic survey. Once the final draft of the survey was approved, an e-mail request with the survey link was distributed

Introduction 5 to the membership of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Committee on Construction. The committee members were asked to distribute the survey to individuals with the knowledge of e-ticketing within their organizations. The complete survey is given in Appendix A. Following the analysis of survey responses, subsequent case examples were conducted to gather further information on the topic. Since e-ticketing is still a relatively new topic in the industry, most of the respondents did not have experience with the technology. Therefore, to get an in-depth understanding of the successes, failures, and barriers to adopting the technology, seven states were chosen for the interviews. Six of the chosen states had worked with e-ticketing in the past, and one state was specifically targeted for its experience with e-Construction though it had not used e-ticketing. The states were contacted for assistance with the study, and all seven agreed to participate in the interviews. Details of the individual interviews are outlined in Chapter 4, and the questions asked during the interviews can be found in Appendix C.