Optimal Planning of Utility Relocations and Noise Barrier Approvals for Roadway Construction Projects
Advisor: Professor Khaled El-Rayes
Abstract
Roadway projects are often delayed by several pre-construction tasks such as planning utility
relocations and noise barrier approvals. Utility relocation was reported by 42 states to cause delays
in their federal-aid highway and bridge projects. To mitigate these delays, the Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA) and several state Departments of Transportation (DOT) reported the use
of a wide range of practices to expedite utility relocations on roadway projects. Similarly, the use
of new noise barrier designs and materials need approvals to ensure compliance with state DOT
requirements including noise transmission loss, noise reduction coefficient, crash testing, and
material degradation. State DOTs have reported that the review and approval process of these
alternative designs and materials of roadway noise barriers by related bureaus can take up to three
years. Accordingly, FHWA and state DOT officials are often confronted with critical challenges
during pre-construction, including how to optimize the planning of utility relocations to minimize
roadway project duration and cost; and how to expedite the review and approval of alternative
designs and materials of roadway noise barriers to avoid costly delays.
The main goal of this research study is to develop robust methodology for optimal planning
of utility relocations and noise barrier approvals for roadway construction projects. To accomplish
this goal, the research objectives of this study are to (1) perform a survey of state DOTs and utility
companies to gather and analyze their procedures for planning roadway utility relocation projects;
(2) develop a decision support tool to enable state DOTs to evaluate and rank all feasible utility
relocation best management practices (BMPs) based on their cost-benefit and overall performance;
(3) create a novel model to optimize the selection of utility relocation BMPs to minimize roadway
project duration and cost; and (4) develop a robust procedure for approving new types of roadway
noise barrier materials.
The performance of the developed decision support tools and optimization models were
analyzed using case studies of roadway construction projects. The results of this analysis illustrate
the novelty of the developed tools and models and their unique capabilities. This is expected to
provide state DOTs and construction planners with much needed support to minimize the duration
of roadway projects and their related traffic delays and congestions; and expedite the approval
process of new noise barrier designs and materials for roadway projects.
