Effectiveness of Accelerating Highway Rehabilitation in Urban Areas

The purpose of this research report is to establish guidelines for identifying highway rehabilitation projects warranting acceleration within Texas. Reduction in the total number of days allocated for project completion is recommended if savings in user costs are greater than the additional costs of accelerating the project. Throughout this report, the short-term impacts to road users and the environment were analyzed, and methods for quantifying user costs were reviewed. The potential consequences of accelerating rehabilitation projects were also presented. A methodology to estimate additional construction costs was developed to assess the effectiveness of accelerated construction schedules. Finally, recommendations are made to identify candidates within the Texas Highway system for expediting highway rehabilitation by means of threshold traffic volumes warranting project acceleration.