Develop Consultant Management Estimating Tools
Dr. Trefor P. Williams, Rutgers University

• The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) Consultant Management Bureau’s primary responsibilities are to negotiate staffing hours/resources with engineering design consultants, and to monitor the consultant’s costs. Currently the Consultant Management Bureau uses knowledge of past and current projects as well as engineering judgment to estimate consultant costs. The proposed research will focus on several major issues:
• The establishment of a central database that contains historic total project cost and staffing level data.
• The development of a computer based estimating tool that employs the data from the historical database to provide more accurate and efficient estimates of consultant resources.
• We will identify the major variables that affect the consultant’s hours and develop predictive models. We will study multiple regression analysis as a method for developing the models. We will only consider techniques that can easily be incorporated in an Excel spreadsheet.
• The NYSDOT already employs an excel spreadsheet based estimating tool. We will determine how to best integrate the new computer tool with the existing spreadsheet. We will also explore how the developed estimating tool can exchange data with Primavera software. One meeting will be held with other interested parties in the NYSDOT to discuss the possibilities for integration
• Training will be provided including at least three PowerPoint presentations to NYSDOT engineers. The meeting will occur in the main office, downstate, and in the Buffalo area. The PowerPoint presentations produced for the meetings will be provided to NYSDOT as a deliverable. A users manual will be developed to assist Consultant Managers using
• the system.

Value Pricing and Traffic Reduction Incentives
Dr. Harold Deutschman, New Jersey Institute of Technology

As traffic congestion grows in cities and suburban areas throughout the United States, the cost of traveling is directly affected and increased. A new concept for combating congestion is the idea of Value Pricing, also known as congestion pricing. The Value Pricing theory involves altering the pricing of transportation facilities, so that it can lead to improved service for transportation users, leading to a more productive use of existing transportation capacities. The Value Pricing program has gained governmental support and a pilot program was created under Section 1216(a) of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, otherwise referred to as TEA-21. This pilot program
was introduced to support efforts being made by State and local governments, as well as other public authorities, to establish, monitor, and evaluate the Value Pricing method. With the evolving state of the TEA-21 pilot program, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has authorized cooperative agreements with up to 15 states to allow for the testing of Value Pricing. The FHWA has allowed the TEA-21 pilot program to set up partnerships with local governments and private parties, inducing an agreement to install a multitude of Value Pricing concepts.