Major State Departments of Transportation operate and maintain networks of thousands of miles of conduits, many carrying fiber optic cables that are vital to State communication systems. These conduits are located alongside or across highways and frequently must be located and marked to avoid damage from digging or boring resulting from construction.

Highway construction projects are characterized by the large amount of data that needs to be collected, processed, and exchanged among the different project participants. Collection of construction inspection data, in particular, allows field personnel to monitor project performance with the ultimate goal of improving productivity and lowering costs. The accomplishment of these two goals could lead to better construction project management and performance that could in turn reduce the time required for project delivery.

A paradox of industrialized society is the overreliance on unsustainable fossil fuel energy for transportation and insufficient use of sustainable bodily energy for more physically active modes of transport. Different modes of transportation require varying levels of physical activity, with cars being the most sedentary, followed by public transportation, and active transportation (walking and biking).

The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) maintains an inventory of over 17,000 highway bridges across the state. As per New York State’s Uniform Code of Bridge Inspections, all bridges in New York State are inspected biennially, or more often as necessary. Bridge inspectors are required to assign a condition rating for up to 47 structural elements of each bridge, including 25 components of each span of a bridge, in addition to the general components common to all bridges based on visual inspection of these elements.

Over the past few decades, urbanization and economic growth have intensified the need for more efficient urban and regional transportation, including the expansion and reorganization of existing transportation networks. Given such huge investments and severe constraints on resources such as financial and land, infrastructure projects require a careful prioritization and selection among available alternatives. In reality, project selection appears to be determined as much by politics as by transport-economic considerations.

This study represents the state of good practice economic theory and models and concludes that there is, indeed value to non-strike agreements in construction projects. Certainly, every major construction project – especially public projects that must go through rigorous Benefit Cost Analyses to gain funding – has an intrinsic value to its owner. However, as is well documented in construction work, all projects have elements of risk. In fact the levels of risk are included in both the owner’s budget and in the contractor’s estimate.