Estimating Total Cost of Bridge Construction Using ABC and Conventional Methods of Construction (Phase I)

Link to Latest Report: Final Report

Background
Estimating public costs, including both the road user and construction costs, of Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) and traditional construction is key to proper decision making at various stages of the bridge life-cycle including planning, design, construction, operations and maintenance. User costs may include those associated with traffic congestion, safety, reliability, environmental, noise and other, while construction costs may include those associated with mobilization, logistics, materials, labors, and other related costs. The accurate evaluation and comparison of public costs associated with both accelerated and conventional bridge construction methods allow benefit-cost analyses of these alternative methods to maximize public benefits in the decision-making process of bridge construction.

Objective
The objective of this project is to create a framework for evaluating and utilizing public costs as part of the decision-making processes associated with bridge construction and the development of a public cost analysis and estimation tool.

Scope
The project will first develop a synthesis of the state-of-the-art and the state-of-the-practice on the subject. It will then identify criteria, methods, and tools that can be used for parameter estimation, evaluation of alternatives, and decision making processes as part of the recommended framework. The framework will be tested using scenarios of conventional and accelerated bridge construction scenarios and fine-tuned based on the test results.

Research Team
Principal Investigator: Mohammed Hadi
Co-Principal Investigators: Albert Gan, Ali Mostafavi, Wallied Orabi
Research Assistants: Mohamed Ibrahim and Jianmin Jia