• Journal of Construction Engineering and Project Management
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.45-52
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• 2012

This study introduces a methodology to evaluate different types of non-nuclear technologies to see how they are competitive to the nuclear technology for quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) in soil condition measurement for highway pavement construction. The non-nuclear methods including the Electrical Density Gauge (EDG) and the Light Weight Deflectometer (LWD) were tested for their performance against a nuclear gauge, and traditional methods were used as baselines. An innovative way of comparing a deflection gauge to a density gauge was introduced. Results showed that the nuclear gauge generally outperformed the non-nuclear gauge in accuracies of soil density and moisture content measurements. Finally, a framework was developed as a guideline for evaluating various types of non-nuclear soil gauges. From other perspectives rather than accuracy, it was concluded that the non-nuclear gauges would be better alternative to the nuclear gauge when the followings are considered: (1) greater life-cycle cost savings; (2) elimination of intense federal regulations and safety/security concerns; and (3) elimination of licensing and intense training.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.624-631
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• 2022

Highway Rest Areas are envisioned to provide an accessible space for rest and parking for travelers, especially those driving a long distance. In addition, modern highway Rest Areas provide many amenities to highway users, including wifi service, picnic tables, litter barrels, running water, public telephones, and sometimes even free coffee. Various studies were conducted in the domain of Rest Area facility design and their operating costs in different states; however, limited studies were conducted on the maintenance costs of these facilities. Therefore, this study's main objective is to compute the annual maintenance cost of Rest Areas in the state of Nevada. This study also analyzes the main cost categories of the maintenance works. The raw cost data of Nevada Rest Area maintenance from 1990 to 2012 were collected from the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT). Results show that the maintenance cost fluctuated over the study period; the maintenance cost decreased from 1991 to 2004 and then increased until 2012. The primary cost categories of maintenance work are labor, equipment, and material costs. Among these, labor cost was the largest category with 56 percent of the total maintenance cost, followed by equipment cost and material cost. The findings of this study may help NDOT and other transportation agencies plan their budget for future Rest Area maintenance activities.

• Journal of Construction Engineering and Project Management
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2014

Tunnelling has become a preferred method of construction for road and highway projects in countries with a lot of hilly slope geological conditions such as found in Malaysia. However the construction works of a tunnelling project are usually complicated and costly, which consequently impose great risks to the parties involved. This paper identifies the key significant risks and sub-risks for tunnelling construction projects in Malaysia through a case study. Interview has been used as the solitary means to determine the significant risks from contractor's eleven key project personnel who were directly involved in the tunnelling construction such as consultant, construction manager and tunnel engineers. The importance of the risks identified is then prioritised and ranked via the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)'s pairwise comparison approach to determine their criticality towards a successful delivery of project. As a result, three key risks have been identified as significant for the tunnelling case study project, namely health and safety, cost overrun in construction and time overrun in construction. Two sub-risks each of the latter categories, which are cost underestimation and unforeseen events (cost overrun in construction) as well as plant and machinery failure and delay in material delivery (time overrun in construction), have occupied the top five overall risk ranking.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.5 no.1 s.17
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• pp.114-123
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• 2004

Contract time determination for highway construction projects has never been easy despite considerable research efforts from academia as well as industry. High variations in crew production rates are considered one of the main barriers to accurate contract time determination. This paper presents a methodology for collecting field information on crew production rates which will help to enhance the accuracy of contract time determination for highway bridge construction. Based on a standard data collection tool developed, data on field crew production rates was collected from 14 on going projects in Texas, USA, over the past two years. The production rates based on the data collected were considered by industry practitioners to be more realistic and practical than those available to the current practices. As more data becomes available, key drivers influencing production rates could be identified and provide site personnel with a means to better plan and control production in a project specific context.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.509-514
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• 2005

In recent years, use of the web technologies and on-line process has immensely swapped single-user platform practice. This study attempted to develop preliminary cost estimating program by means of Web technologies based on statistical modeling results. A prototype Web-based Preliminary Item-Level Cost Estimating System (WBPILCES) using open source software was developed as an on-line estimating tool in this research. The primary objective is to study the possible flexibility of implementing a centralized information system that will be maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) IT division. The full-scale deployment of proposed information architecture is expected to seamlessly integrate with legacy database system currently used by TxDOT so as to streamline data storage, cost growth tracking and estimates documentation.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2015.10a
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• pp.294-298
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• 2015

In the United States, the completion of Construction Work Zone (CWZ) impact assessments for all federally-funded highway infrastructure improvement projects is mandated, yet it is regarded as a daunting task for state transportation agencies, due to a lack of standardized analytical methods for developing sounder Transportation Management Plans (TMPs). To circumvent these issues, this study aims to create a spatiotemporal modeling framework, dubbed "SWAT" (Spatiotemporal Work zone Assessment for TMPs). This study drew a total of 43,795 traffic sensor reading data collected from heavily trafficked highways in U.S. metropolitan areas. A multilevel-cluster-driven analysis characterized traffic patterns, while being verified using a measurement system analysis. An artificial neural networks model was created to predict potential 24/7 traffic demand automatically, and its predictive power was statistically validated. It is proposed that the predicted traffic patterns will be then incorporated into a what-if scenario analysis that evaluates the impact of numerous alternative construction plans. This study will yield a breakthrough in automating CWZ impact assessments with the first view of a systematic estimation method.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.87-100
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• 2009

The quality of early cost estimates is critical to the feasibility analysis and budget allocation decisions for public capital projects. Various researches have been attempted to develop cost prediction models in the early stage of a construction project. However, existing studies are limited on its applicability to actual projects because they focus primarily on a specific phase as well as utilize restricted information while the amount of information collectable differs from one another along with the project stages. This research aims to develop two-staged cost estimation model for the schematic planning and preliminary design process of a construction projects, considering the available information of each phase. In the schematic planning stage where outlined information of a project is only available, the Case-Based Reasoning model is used for easy and rapid elicitation of a project cost based on the extensive database of more than 90 actual highway construction projects. Then, the representing quantity-based model is proposed for the preliminary design stage where more information on the quantities and unit costs are collectable based on the alternative routes and cross-sections of a highway project. Real case studies are used to demonstrate and validate the benefits of the proposed approach. Through the two-stage cost estimation system, users are able to hold a timely prospect to presume the final cost within the budge such that feasibility study as well as budget allocation decisions are made on effectively and competitively.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.981-983
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• 2003

The Remote Sensing Group of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) has acquired SAR data of the Central Cebu Island for its research study area. The MGB is one of the proponent of DOST-NASA PACRIM II Project, which is composed of eleven (11) agencies and institutions in the Philippines, that focuses on the scientific application of radar data with the theme on hazard and natural resources management. The PACRIM II Project, being done on three-year term, is slated for completion in the year 2004. The main thrust of the project study of the MGB is the baseline environmental monitoring studies, on which the data are to be fused with some other available data from LandSAT and photogrammetry. The generated data is part of the information for the update of thematic mapping being done. The 12 ${\times}$ 60 km swath AirSAR data covers the Central Cebu Island. The highlights of conducting this research project are: Extent of Watershed Basin boundaries - identification of the tributaries that drain water supply to the metropolitan area; Monitoring of the mountain highways - identification of landslide risk prone sites as part of natural hazard monitoring on a national highway that cuts along the mountainous areas; and Coastline change assessment - monitoring the coastline activities relative to the rapid urbanization and exposure as part of coastal management. The Phase 1 of this report discusses the fusion with the ArcView generated data as baseline studies on the monitoring activities.

• Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.43-54
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• 2011

LCC(Life Cycle Cost) analysis on design process has to be performed for a selection of reasonable and economical design alternatives in highway construction projects. To be performed of LCC analysis, the maintenance data such that are maintenance periods, rate of repair, maintenance cost, and so on are required. Therefore the Hi-Portal System had been developed and the maintenance data has been accumulating in the Korean Expressway Corporation. However, the data are not effectively used because the system have no consideration for LCC concept, and currently, th data are acquired by survey with experts. In the study, it is proposed that the concept of Generally Annual Maintenance are practically and easily used to perform LCC analysis. Some of generally annual maintenance data are suggested through Hi-portal data analysis due to the proposed concept and LCC analysis of a real highway construction project is preformed by comparison with a current approach. From the results, it make sure that the proposed concept are effectively used to preform LCC analysis until during exactly practical data from Hi-Portal system are obtained.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.123-134
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• 2015

PURPOSES : The key point of a multimodal LOS (level-of-service) evaluation system is that all of the modes are mutually associated to determine each mode's LOS. For example, the LOS of the bicycle mode is measured based on not only bicycle volumes, but also automobile volumes. However, the Korea Highway Capacity Manual (KHCM) still focuses on the automobile mode in evaluating the LOS of the roads. Additionally, the KHCM's LOS of the other modes, except for the automobile, is not consistent with actual road conditions. The KHCM, therefore, needs to develop and introduce a multimodal LOS system in order to evaluate the service conditions more accurately. METHODS: As a preliminary step to the introduction of multimodal LOS research, in this study the current problem of the KHCM's LOS system through a close review and comparison with other HCMs (highway capacity manuals) was identified. Secondly, a field survey and investigation of the urban streets to apply the HCM's multimodal LOS system was conducted. Finally, a comparison analysis of the results of the HCM and KHCM LOS was performed. RESULTS: In the study, it was found that the results of the LOS for the automobile mode did not show a significant difference between the HCM and KHCM. However, the LOS of the bicycle and pedestrian mode tended to be worse in the multimodal LOS system, which results from considering the effects of the automobile mode. Moreover, it was found that many cases have the potential to improve the overall LOS conditions, while reducing the automobile capacity. CONCLUSIONS: With the introduction of the multimodal LOS system, road diet and complete streets can be easily applied to ans actual road improvement project. Ultimately, the multimodal LOS system should be introduced into the KHCM, which can then be applied to traffic impact studies and other road improvement projects for more accurate evaluations.