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Article
An Exploration of Early Work Packaging in Construction Manager/General Contractor Highway Projects
Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
  • Douglas Alleman, University of Colorado, Boulder
  • Dean Papajohn, University of Arizona
  • Douglas D. Gransberg, Iowa State University
  • Mounir El Asmar, Arizona State University
  • Keith R. Molenaar, University of Colorado, Boulder
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Accepted Manuscript
Publication Date
1-1-2017
DOI
10.3141/2630-09
Abstract

Recently, state agencies have been successfully implementing construction manager/general contractor (CM/GC) delivery on highway projects. While early work packaging is frequently cited in the literature as a primary benefit of CM/GC, there is limited to substantiate or refute these benefits. Additionally, agencies need a better understanding of the current state-of-practice of early work packing in CM/GC to help with effective implementation. In an ongoing Federal Highway Agency research project, 12 of 34 completed CM/GC projects reported the use early work packaging, and will be the focus of this study. Research methods used within this paper include: literature review, content review of agency manuals/instructions, project surveys, agency interviews, and case studies. Triangulated findings suggest that early work packaging can contribute to expediting project completion, mitigating project risks, reducing project cost, and minimizing public impacts. To achieve these outcomes, agencies must perform detailed planning to generate severable/independent packages that take into account all potential impacts to the project. Trends in data indicate that early work packages can lead to cost savings, yet the sample size does not provide statistical significance. Future research should explore the performance of a larger data set of CM/GC projects with and without early work packaging along with a cost/benefit analysis of early work packages.

Comments

This is a manuscript of an article from Transportation Research Record 2630 (2017): doi:10.3141/2630-09. Posted with permission.

Copyright Owner
National Academy of Sciences
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
Douglas Alleman, Dean Papajohn, Douglas D. Gransberg, Mounir El Asmar, et al.. "An Exploration of Early Work Packaging in Construction Manager/General Contractor Highway Projects" Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board Vol. 2630 (2017)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/douglas_gransberg/26/