Project Details
RESEARCHERS
Momen Mousa, Sharareh Kermanshachi
SPONSORS
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Research and Technology
KEYWORDS
Automation, Construction projects, Data collection, Inspection, Materials
Project description
As construction of transportation projects require significant amount of financial resources, cost savings play a significant role in these projects. E-Ticketing, is a new technology which reduces project costs through less need for inspection workforce, increased accuracy in delivery of construction materials (concrete, asphalt mix, etc.), improved documentation process, and reduced project schedule. In addition, this technology increases safety of inspectors, as they do not need to locate in danger zones of projects adjacent to traffic in order to exchange paper tickets with truck drivers. Although, E-Ticketing is a very beneficial technology in construction of transportation infrastructures, several DOTs hesitate to adopt the technology and only few DOTs such as Iowa DOT and Kentucky Transportation Cabinet have pilot tested the technology. The reason behind this resistance is due to lack of sufficient research results to support the cost and schedule savings of the technology as well as lack of implementation standards and guidelines. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the effectiveness of the E-Ticketing for construction of transportation infrastructures based on cost savings, schedule reductions, and health and safety enhancement. In this regard, this study develops two quantitative models measuring the cost savings and schedule reductions using E-Ticketing in transportation projects. Moreover, this study evaluates the health benefits of E-ticketing adoption for field inspectors as face-to-face interactions between truck drivers and field inspectors are eliminated. Survey, interviews, and quantitative data analysis and modeling techniques will be used. This study will develop project-based standards for E-Ticketing adoption by State Transportation Agencies. This study also develops a decision-making tool for adoption of E-Ticketing in different transportation projects based on their projects size, project type, complexity level, location (rural vs. urban), project timeline, and other characteristics.