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Coordinating Road Projects

Cities around the country are recognizing benefits from coordinating projects between transportation agencies, utilities, and other agencies that may need to do construction in the public right-of-way. These benefits include significant cost savings, earlier identification of project impacts and greater ability to reduce and manage traffic disruptions from road work, and better quality road surfaces. Better coordination of projects can be "win-win" for public agencies, road users, and citizens by reducing the need for additional work zones.

Several examples of how cities have coordinated projects and the associated benefits are highlighted below.

Baltimore, MD Usage of a Software-Based System to Coordinate Right-of-Way Activities and Reduce Impacts

Faced with a growing list of proposed infrastructure improvement projects owned by various stakeholder groups across the city, Baltimore, Maryland's engineering staff recognized a need to better coordinate activities that affect the public right-of-way (ROW) in order to reduce impacts to drivers. To implement better coordination and communication, the City of Baltimore implemented a software-based project coordination system to track all capital and maintenance activities. Read More…

New York City DOT Initiative to Better Coordinate Road Construction Projects

In October 2011, the New York City (NYC) DOT unveiled an online mapping system, a guidance manual, and incentives to help improve coordination among utility companies, contractors, and agencies to minimize the number of times streets are dug up, reduce construction congestion, and extend the life of resurfacing projects. An executed agreement between NYC DOT and major utility companies provides for the monthly sharing of data regarding:

• All active NYC DOT street excavation permits.
• NYC DOT's list of "protected streets" (recently repaved/reconstructed streets that have a higher permitting fee and stricter restoration requirements if disturbed).
• NYC DOT's roadway resurfacing schedule, short-term utility excavation needs, and long-term utility project schedules.

This information is shared via the city's public online map portal, NYCityMap, enabling utility companies or any other entity that performs street excavation work to find details on NYC DOT projects included in the city's 10-year Capital Budget, as well as more imminent NYC DOT and New York City Department of Environmental Protection capital projects currently in design or under construction. The Street Works Manual provides guidance on use of the mapping portal, as well as other processes and tools to further enhance advance planning and coordination of street work. It also provides information on construction permitting processes and increased monetary penalties for permit violations, intended to reduce the incidence of street work undertaken without permits, provide a stronger incentive for collaboration and coordination between city government and private sector stakeholders that engage in work on city streets, and better facilitate public mobility and safety.

Oregon DOT Corridor-Level Transportation Management Plans

During an unprecedented period of construction in Oregon to repair or replace hundreds of bridges, pave and maintain city and county roads, improve and expand interchanges, add new highway capacity, and remove freight bottlenecks statewide, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) realized it needed to keep traffic and freight moving. To address traffic impacts of the construction in a cost-effective and timely manner, with minimal interference to the traveling public, ODOT is focusing on identifying and addressing mobility issues prior to and during design and through the development and implementation of program-level, corridor-level, and project-level traffic management plans (TMPs). Corridor-Level TMPs were developed for specific key freight and travel routes and address corridor management (including communication, coordination, and implementation), bridge construction scheduling and staging, and work zone traffic operations strategies at the corridor level to help coordinate efforts across all the projects in a corridor. Read More…

Pennsylvania DOT Coordination with Pittsburgh Municipalities and Utility Companies

A September 2009 article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette entitled, "Computer program maps construction projects on Internet", describes how web-based coordination technology will enable the county, Pennsylvania DOT, municipalities, and utility companies to easily exchange information and coordinate construction and maintenance projects via the Internet, reducing costs and lessening impacts on neighborhoods and commuters.

Project Coordination in Providence, Rhode Island

A November 2008 article in Water & Wastes Digest magazine, entitled, "Project Coordination in the Right of Way", describes how coordination software was used to successfully coordinate the replacement of 1,800 water service lines annually with numerous concurrent municipal roadway projects in Providence, Rhode Island.

Additional Resources

• Highway Construction Coordination to Minimize Traffic Impacts (PDF 1MB) - NCHRP report with examples of coordinated highway construction projects and recommendations for agencies interested in implementing enhanced construction coordination while maintaining reasonable levels of traffic flow.
• NCHRP Synthesis 413: Techniques for Effective Highway Construction Projects in Congested Urban Areas (PDF 5.1MB) - Identifies strategies and successful practices used by transportation agencies to deal effectively with the challenges and impacts of construction projects in congested urban corridors.

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