FHWA Staff Examine Dutch Project Acceleration Methods
Hari Kalla, director of the FHWA Center for Accelerating Innovation, and Rob Griffith, assistant administrator of the FHWA Ohio Division, participated in a project acceleration workshop in the Netherlands coordinated by FHWA and Rijkswaterstaat, part of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment. FHWA is planning a late fall Web conference on the Dutch approach to innovative contracting to accelerate project delivery.
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Workshops Cover Programmatic Agreements
Practitioner workshops in Boston and Washington, DC, focused on using programmatic agreements to save time on projects by establishing streamlined approaches for handling routine environmental requirements. The September workshops featured general discussions on programmatic agreements and sessions on specific topics, including Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and Endangered Species Act issues such as cofferdams, culverts, and road crossings. A Web conference is planned for December to provide updates on the programmatic approaches teams are investigating. More programmatic agreement workshops in other parts of the country are scheduled to start after January 2013.
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California Passes CM-GC Bill
The California State Legislature passed a bill that allows the California Department of Transportation to implement the construction manager-general contractor project delivery method (CM-GC) on a limited basis. The legislation, which takes effect January 1, 2013, authorizes a six-project CM-GC pilot program. It allows the agency to use construction contractors as consultants during the design of highway projects to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of construction.
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Warm-Mix Asphalt Event Set for Colorado
The National Center for Asphalt Technology at Auburn University will present a Denver, CO, workshop in late October on warm-mix asphalt (WMA). This technical session will support efforts to improve implementation of WMA as an Every Day Counts initiative in Colorado.
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Florida to Hold Intelligent Compaction Open House
The Florida Department of Transportation will host an October 18 open house in Cocoa, FL, on intelligent compaction, a technology that accelerates project delivery while improving pavement quality through the use of special rollers on transportation projects. The purpose of the event is to educate the construction industry, designers, and Florida highway agency staff about the process and encourage its use on State and local projects. The open house will include a demonstration of intelligent compaction systems and GPS equipment.
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Rhode Island Opens Bridge Early
Using accelerated bridge construction techniques enabled the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) to open the Frenchtown Brook Bridge in East Greenwich a month earlier than planned. The agency received an FHWA Highways for LIFE grant to use innovation to replace the 57-year-old bridge. The scheduled closure was for no more than 65 days, but accelerated bridge construction allowed RIDOT to demolish the old bridge, assemble the new structure using precast concrete components, and reopen the road to traffic in 33 days. RIDOT included a $3,000-per-day incentive clause in its contract with the contractor for opening the bridge early. RIDOT will evaluate all future bridge projects to determine if they can be built using accelerated bridge construction techniques.
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