Assessing Ohio's Approach to Clearing Utilities on Highway Projects Process Improvements

Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) has incurred over $30 million dollars in construction related delays in addition to extended traveling time to the public and potential delays to other projects. One leading cause of construction delays is the untimely relocation of utility infrastructure as well as other utility conflicts, including unmarked or mismarked utility locations. The current utility relocation process relies on leveraging communication and good working relationships between ODOT and Utility company staff, with no practical enforcement tools within the law. Research is needed to determine the most cost effective, practical, and safest way to initiate and execute utility coordination. The goal of this project is to identify processes, procedure, and/or statutory changes that could decrease the risks of utility related construction delay occurrences. The objectives of this research include the following: (1) Review and identify common causes/factors that have led to utility related construction delays, which may be extrinsic or intrinsic to ODOT, the Utility company, or force majeure. (2) Develop an analysis/spreadsheet/report that identifies projects that have historically been affected by a utility related construction delay broken down by District, utility (type/name), duration (if known), cost (if known). (3) Conduct a review of ODOT's current process to determine successes and opportunities for improvement. (4) Review Utility relocation practices from other DOTs to identify best practices. (5) Provide recommendations on policies and procedures, laws, etc.

• Record URL:
  https://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Planning/SPR/Research/reportsandplans/Lists/Final%20Reports%20All/Item/displayifs.aspx?List=47f3581d%2Df21c%2D403b%2D9358%2Dfea0b008772b&ID=803&Source=https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Edot%2Estate%2Eoh%2Eus%2FDivisions%2FPlanning%2FSPR%2FResearch%2Freportsandplans%2FLists%2FFinal%2520Reports%2520All%2FAllItems%2Easpx%3FuseFiltersInViewXml%3D1%26FilterField1%3DResearch%5Fx0020%5FOrganization%26FilterValue1%3DIowa%2520State%2520University%26FilterType1%3DChoice%26FilterField2%3DList%5Fx0020%5FCategori%26FilterValue2%3DActive%26FilterType2%3DChoice&ContentTypeId=0x0100BD006C89430C884FB603A74E63BB6849&RootFolder=%2FDivisions%2FPlanning%2FSPR%2FResearch%2Freportsandplans%2FLists%2FFinal%20Reports%20All

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $224093
• Contract Numbers:

  41217

  136817

  120525

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Ohio Department of Transportation

  Research Program
  1980 West Broad Street
  Columbus, OH  United States  43223
• Project Managers:

  Spriggs, Jennifer

• Performing Organizations:

  Iowa State University, Ames

  Institute for Transportation
  2711 South Loop Drive, Suite 4700
  Ames, Iowa  United States  50010-8664
• Principal Investigators:

  Sturgill, Roy E

• Start Date: 20241001
• Expected Completion Date: 20260401
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Construction projects; Construction scheduling; Coordination; Delays; Location; Public utilities; Relocation (Facilities)
• Identifier Terms: Ohio Department of Transportation
• Subject Areas: Construction; Highways; Policy;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01930894
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Ohio Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: 41217, 136817, 120525
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Sep 17 2024 2:27PM