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January 2008
Cost estimation workshop draws state DOT leaders to Minnesota
Participants shared lessons in cost estimating and management.
Cost estimation and cost management are fundamental challenges facing transportation agencies today, and many agencies are exploring how to achieve consistency and accuracy in project and program estimating. In response to this need, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is sponsoring two capacity-building workshops in cooperation with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT). CTS is conducting the workshops on behalf of the sponsors.
The first workshop was held November 15 and 16 in Minneapolis and included representatives from 20 states. One of its objectives was to “build capacity” for planning and engineering professionals to implement NCHRP 8-49, Procedures for Estimation and Management of Highway Projects During Planning, Programming, and Preconstruction (The Guidebook) (2.2 MB PDF). The guidebook, now published as National Cooperative Highway Research Program Report 574, provides strategies, methods, and tools to help agencies develop, track, and document cost estimating during each phase of transportation projects.
Speakers at the November workshop described how states are moving forward with the implementation of the guidebook and shared advances and lessons learned from other states’ initiatives on cost estimating. Robert Johns, CTS director, moderated the workshop and gave opening comments with Robert Ritter, team leader with the FHWA Office of Planning.
According to the guidebook, many factors between project initiation and construction completion affect a project’s final costs. This time span is normally several years, but highly complex and technologically challenging projects can easily exceed 10 years—and the project scope and its definition change during that period.
During the early stages of a project, many factors—such as insufficient knowledge about right-of-way costs and project location, environmental mitigation requirements, traffic control requirements, or work-hour restrictions—influence project costs. Moreover, other process-type factors often increase project cost estimates. These factors can include unforeseen engineering complexities, changes in regulatory requirements, local governmental and stakeholder pressures, and a transformation of community expectations. The impact of all of these issues is compounded if agencies lack staff with appropriate training in cost estimation or institutions lack cost estimation management processes.
Sessions at the event, which focused on planning issues, included small-group discussions of the challenges of cost estimating and management from a planning perspective, and presentations on strategic approaches for addressing cost estimating and cost management in the planning process. General sessions included a facilitated discussion of the prospects for guidebook implementation, and presentations on themes and next steps. Tim Henkel, director of Mn/DOT’s Planning, Modal, and Data Management Division, was a key presenter in the latter session.
A second workshop in the spring of 2008 will focus on design and project development issues. CTS will produce a written summary of the outcomes of both workshops.
For more information, contact Gina Baas, CTS communications and outreach director, at 612-626-7331, baasx001@cts.umn.edu.