Work Zone Mobility and Safety Program

Work Zone Road User Costs - Concepts and Applications

Appendix A. Kepner-Tregoe Decision Analysis Worksheet for MOT Strategy Selection

Project Information

Facility Name – US 00 Pavement Reconstruction

Facility Type – Arterial

Project Number – # A600000

Route & Milepost – US 00, MP 100 to 105

District/County – District 1, Polk County

By – H. Miller

Date – 05/05/2005

Step 1 - Prepare Decision Statement

To identify the most appropriate strategy for maintaining traffic on US 00 during the reconstruction of the pavement segments between mileposts 100 and 105.

Step 2A – Define MUST Objectives

List the mandatory attributes of a preferred MOT strategy for this project.

Mandatory attributes for a preferred MOT strategy.
Performance Measure/Criteria Go/No Go
Maintain a minimum of one lane each direction for work zone traffic on weekdays Empty Cell.
No lane closure from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays Empty Cell.
Queue length not more than 0.75 for more than 1 hour Empty Cell.
Delay time not more than 30 minutes Empty Cell.
Available detour routes exceed capacity? Empty Cell.
MOT alternative has no constructability issues Empty Cell.

Step 2B & 3 – Define & Weight WANT Objectives

List the desired attributes of a preferred MOT strategy for this project. Assign weights to each attribute based on their relative importance on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 indicating “least preferable” and 10 indicating “most preferable” or “equally preferable.”

Desired attributes and assigned weights.
Performance Measure/Criteria Weight
Delay costs ($) 10
Vehicle operating costs 8
Number of days for project completion 10
Traffic control & associated construction costs ($) 8
Average time to clear a non-injury incidence (min.) 4
Maintenance of emergency services (adjectival ratings – poor, average, good) 6
Environmental impacts (adjectival ratings – low, moderate, severe) 3

Step 4 – Identify Candidate MOT Alternatives

Identify and list the candidate MOT alternatives for considered in the decision analysis.

Candidate MOT alternatives.
Alternative Description
A Daytime partial lane closure –closed between 7 a.m. to 5 p.m
B Nighttime partial lane closure –closed between 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.
C Nighttime partial lane closure –closed between 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.
D Nighttime full lane closure –closed between 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.
E Truck traffic diverted through detour routes during peak hours.

Step 5 – Conduct Work Zone Impact Assessment and Summarize Findings

Summarize the findings of the work zone impact assessment.

Summary of the Work Zone impact assessment.
Performance Measure/Criteria A B C D E
Maintain a minimum of 1 lane each direction for WZ traffic during weekdays No Yes Yes Yes Yes
No lane closure between 7a.m. through 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. through 8 p.m. during weekdays No Yes Yes Yes Yes
MOT alternative has no constructability issues No No No No No
Average delay time per vehicle (min) 19.0 6.0 3.0 10.0* 20.0**
Maximum queue length (mi.) 1.6 0.0 0.0 0.5* 0.5**
Available detour route exceed capacity? No No No No Yes
Average time to clear a non-injury incidence (min.) 20 25 25 15 10
Delay costs $5,300 $3,125 $2,800 $4,700 $6,800
Vehicle operating costs $1,484 $656 $728 $1,175 $1,836
Traffic control & associated construction costs $55,000 $94,000 $75,000 $109,000 $85,000
Number of days for project completion 150 84 84 60 90
Maintenance of emergency services moderate moderate moderate good good
Environmental impacts moderate severe severe low low

Step 6 – Evaluate Alternatives against MUST Objectives

Evaluate each alternative against the MUST objectives and check whether the attributes of an alternative satisfy all of the MUST requirements. Use the findings of the impact assessment summarized in Step 5. Assign Go or No Go outcome based on your evaluation indicating your decision to retain or eliminate an alternative for the next step. Any alternative with a No Go outcome will be eliminated from further evaluation.

Alternatives evaluation against MUST objectives.
Performance Measure/Criteria A B C D E
Maintain a minimum of 1 lane each direction for WZ traffic during weekdays Go Go Go Go Go
No lane closure between 7a.m. through 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. through 8 p.m. during weekdays Go Go Go Go Go
Queue length not more than 0.75 for more than 1 hour No Go Go Go Go Go
Delay time not more than 30 minutes No Go Go Go Go Go
Alternative detour route exceeds capacity? Go Go Go Go No Go
Alternative has no constructability constraints Go Go Go Go Go

Step 7 – Evaluate Alternatives against WANT Objectives

Evaluate each alternative against the WANT objectives based on the findings of the impact assessment summarized in Step 5. Assign scores to each alternative against the listed objectives indicating how well the alternative meets that objective. Use a scale of 1 to 10, with a score of 1 indicating “least preferable” and 10 indicating “most preferable” or “equally preferable.”

Alternatives evaluation against WANT objectives.
Performance Measure/Criteria Alternative Score
A B C D E
Delay costs ($) Empty Cell 9 10 6 Empty Cell
Vehicle operating costs Empty Cell 10 8 7 Empty Cell
Number of days for project completion Empty Cell 7 7 10 Empty Cell
Traffic control & associated construction costs ($) Empty Cell 8 8 10 Empty Cell
Average time to clear a non-injury incidence (min.) Empty Cell 6 6 10 Empty Cell
Maintenance of emergency services (adjectival ratings – poor, average, good) Empty Cell 6 6 10 Empty Cell
Environmental impacts (adjectival ratings – low, moderate, severe) Empty Cell 3 3 10 Empty Cell

Step 8 – Calculate the Weighted Scores of Alternatives

Calculate the weighted scores by multiplying the alternative score (Step 7) with the corresponding objective weights (Step 2B) to determine the relative performance of the alternatives. Calculate the total weighted score for each alternative. Indicate the alternative with the highest total score as the tentative choice.

Weighted scores of alternatives.
Performance Measure/Criteria Alternative Score
A B C D E
Delay costs ($) Empty Cell 90 100 60 Empty Cell
Vehicle operating costs Empty Cell 80 64 56 Empty Cell
Number of days for project completion Empty Cell 70 70 100 Empty Cell
Traffic control & associated construction costs ($) Empty Cell 64 64 80 Empty Cell
Average time to clear a non-injury incidence (min.) Empty Cell 24 24 40 Empty Cell
Maintenance of emergency services (adjectival ratings – poor, average, good) Empty Cell 36 36 60 Empty Cell
Environmental impacts (adjectival ratings – low, moderate, severe) Empty Cell 9 9 30 Empty Cell
Total weighted score Empty Cell 373 367 426 Empty Cell

Tentative choice: Alternative D

Step 9 – Evaluate of Adverse Consequences (optional)

Identify the potential risk factors and list under the “Adverse Consequences” column. Indicate the probability of the event under “Pr” column for each alternative on a scale from “Low” to “High,” with a rating of “Low” indicating “an unlikely event” and “High” indicating “a most probable event.” Indicate the severity of the event under “Sr” column for each alternative on a similar scale, with a value of “Low” indicating “inconsequential” and “High” indicating “very severe.” Identify “high-risk” and “low-risk” alternatives.

Adverse consequences.
Adverse Consequences B C D
Pr Sv Pr Sv Pr Sv
Flood impact Low-medium HM Low-medium HM Low-medium High-medium
High severity crashes High-medium Low High-medium Low High-medium Low-medium
Emergency evacuation High-medium Low High-medium Low High-medium High

High-risk choice: Alternative D

Low-risk choice: Alternatives B and C

Step 10 – Select the Preferred MOT Strategy

Summarize the total weighted score (from Step 8) as well as the risk score (from Step 9) for each alternative and rank them.

Preferred MOT strategy.
Alternative Description Weighted Score Risk Score Rank
A Daytime partial lane closure –closed between 7 a.m. to 5 p.m Eliminated Eliminated Eliminated
B Nighttime partial lane closure –closed between 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. 373 Low-risk 1
C Nighttime partial lane closure –closed between 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. 367 Low-risk 2
D Nighttime full lane closure –closed between 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. 426 High-risk Eliminated
E Truck traffic diverted through detour routes during peak hours. Eliminated Eliminated Eliminated

Result

Indicate the preferred MOT strategy from Step 9.

Result.
Alternative Description
B Nighttime partial lane closure –closed between 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.

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