AASHTO VE Technical Committee

Over the past 20 years, Value Engineering (VE) has become an ever increasing part of the transportation industry. As federal, state, and local governments strive to establish the greatest value for the taxpayer's dollar, VE is a constant source of innovation, cost-effectiveness, and quality improvements.

The public transportation sector, faced with rising costs, has turned to VE to better use dwindling resources. This effort has spread beyond Construction VE to include Design VE and Process VE. In short, VE has taken the lead in making the transportation industry a leader in innovation and cost control.

In order to recognize outstanding VE achievements and to promote awareness of the importance of VE, the AASHTO Value Engineering Technical Committee has established national awards to be given to transportation agencies. These awards are presented on a biennial basis to agencies that have shown special achievement in providing added value in process improvement, project delivery, construction, or design.

The 2009 awards were given for Most Value Added in the following categories:

Improved Performance

Winner - SR 26, Riverdale Road and I-15 to Washington Blvd - Utah DOT

Improved Process

Winner - Cost Risk Assessment and Value Engineering (CRAVE) - Minnesota DOT

Honorable Mention - Discovery of Utility Facilities for Project Development - California DOT

Pre-Construction less than $25 million

Winner - SR 530, Sauk River CED Bank Erosion - Washington State DOT

Pre-Construction $25-$75 million

Winner - I-5 and I-8 North Corridor Widening - California DOT

Pre-Construction more than $75 million

Winner - I-94 Rehabilitation in Dane and Jefferson Counties - Wisconsin DOT

Honorable Mention - I-5, Columbia River Crossing - Washington State DOT

Honorable Mention - New SR 138 - California DOT

Honorable Mention - I-15 at 11400 So. Interchange - Utah DOT

During Construction

Winner - Alexander Road Bridge over AMTRAK's Northeast Corridor - New Jersey DOT

The SR 26: Riverdale Road, I-15 to Washington Boulevard project entailed reconstruction and widening of 1.4 miles of a busy retail corridor from five to seven lanes. Reconstruction projects usually span two construction seasons, but to mitigate economic impacts of a large construction project during the holiday season, early coordination among project stakeholders produced a plan to complete the paving in one season before “Black Friday,” the busiest shopping day of the year. An accelerated schedule was achieved by limiting utility impacts through use of Portland Cement Concrete Pavement (PCCP) to keep the structural section shallow. Sub-grade soils encountered during construction were quickly mitigated by the construction team to keep the project on schedule, with all seven lanes in operation before the holiday shopping season.

How do you complete 12 risk assessments and 12 Value Engineering studies in less than three months? You combine them together into Cost Risk Assessment + Value Engineering (CRAVE) studies. This improved process took months off of the traditional risk assessment and value engineering process. Minnesota DOT needed results by the end of the year for 11 key bridges and 1 roadway project. The projects were in various stages of development from concept through 90% design. The process was requested in early September and needed to be completed by the end of November - in time for the next legislative session. Three months from start to finish!

Various District policies and procedures have been developed over the years to define the roles and responsibilities for the consideration of utility issues. Institutional knowledge and the specialization of work groups to manage subsurface assets have been lost over time. The organizational structure of dedicated functional units to manage subsurface assets in not presently standardized within the Department.

This VA Study focused on improving operations, project delivery schedule, customer service, and increase the amount of standardized utility data stored. The team developed a roadmap where Districts could re-allocate resources to create Utility Engineering Squads, and start the development of a statewide database. These efforts created a huge performance improvement at virtually no extra cost.

The purpose of the project is to realign SR 530 away from the Sauk River as corrective action from to reduce risk to the roadway and reduce recurring maintenance costs. Several goals and objectives were identified to balance environmental, community, and transportation values while meeting the purpose and need for the project.

The basic functions of the project were determined to be “Protect Roadbed” and “Minimize Erosion”.
Implementation of the VE Study recommendations resulted in total potential project cost increase of approximately $2.1 million along with the advancement of the project schedule. The project received the WSDOT 2009 Excellence in Environmental Design Award based on the implantation of the VE Study recommendations.

The team’s analysis and traffic modeling performed during the workshop determined that the $40.7 million baseline design would not provide the operational benefits anticipated. This analysis was confirmed by an independent traffic analysis conducted after the workshop. Project decision-makers accepted VA alternatives that significantly reduced the length of roadway widening. The decreased length resulted in a $20,168,000 (57%) cost reduction and resulted in the following performance benefits:

In addition, the VA team’s safety and traffic flow improvement recommendations for I-8 are being carried forward for further study.

The VE Study reviewed various pavement rehabilitation and reconstruction alternatives for this 33 mile long segment of IH-94; reviewed construction staging and traffic control for the alternatives, considering user delay costs; reviewed life cycle costs over the next 25 years; identified a timeline for future capacity needs; and reviewed 46 structures that would be affected by the various alternatives.

The VE Team developed, evaluated and ranked six alternatives plus the original baseline alternative, with life-cycle costs ranging from $141 million to $207 million. The results and recommendations of the VE study were presented to the WisDOT Backbone Highway Committee so that decisions could be made for Majors Projects Program funding and programming the rehabilitation or reconstruction of roadway segments within the project corridor.

The mission of the VE teams was to verify or improve upon the proposed alternatives. The project was divided into four logical segments to perform value engineering (VE) and qualitative risk assessments. Each team applied the principle and practices of the VE job plan, as well as reviewed previously defined risks and risks identified during each study. Each study team evaluated the alternatives against a set of predetermined performance attributes. Improvement opportunities were based from a value index of performance/cost for each alternative as it related to a baseline of performance attributes. The primary objectives for these studies included:

Basing improvement opportunities on a value index of performance/cost related to the performance attributes.
The basic functions of the project were determined to be “Relieve Congestion”.
Implementation of the VE Study recommendations resulted in total potential project cost savings of approximately $550 million to $665 million.

New State Route (SR) 138, Palmdale, California, between SR 14 and 100th Street, north of existing SR 138; 8- lanes tapering down to four; new interchange with SR 14 including direct ramp connectors; seven new interchanges; viaduct structures; partial Rancho Vista Boulevard interchange for better weaving with direct connector ramps SR 14/SR 138 Interchange; and LA-World-Airport will provide portions of new ROW. Cost is $860 million.

The implementation of the VA Alternatives will result in significant changes to the project, with the most significant realigning SR 138 such that the geometry is straighter and slightly shorter while increasing the spacing between interchanges thereby; reducing the size of environmental footprint; improving operations at interchanges; reducing imported borrow required by nearly a million cubic yards; improving stormwater detention facilities; converting portion SR 138 to an expressway; improving Joshua Tree Mitigation Program; and reduced project costs by $74 million.

The I-15 at 11400 South Interchange Project provides an additional east-west arterial roadway, about 6 miles in length, from Bangerter Highway in South Jordan to State Street in Sandy, both principal north-south arterial highways. The portion of 11400 South between Bangerter Highway and 1300 West varies from a four-lane roadway to a two-lane roadway. There is also a portion of 11400 South that exists from about 500 West to State Street. No roadway existing between these two sections. A new interchange is proposed where 11400 South crosses under I-15 just west of State Street.

The VE team generated 33 ideas with 14 ideas selected for inclusion in the RFP for this design-build project for a total estimated savings of $17,414,000 (7.1 percent of project cost).

NJDOT has entered into agreement with IEW construction to replace the existing deteriorated bridge on Alexander Road that runs over the Amtrak North East Corridor rail-line. The replacement bridge would consist of two cast-in place concrete full-height abutments with wingwalls founded on seventy-seven caissons, and these caissons are socketed into bedrock.

The Contractor’s proposal to use Steel H Piles and MSE straps in lieu of drilled shafts and alterations to the methods of soil modifications. The abutment walls and wingwalls will be restrained laterally using multiple rows of ribbed metal straps. The proposal saved $1.5 Millions, minimizes track outages and impact to Amtrak patrons.

2009 AASHTO Value Engineering Awards