Scheduling Interrelated Concurrent Projects in Transportation Networks

In transportation networks, project alternatives are often highly interrelated because changes in network components redistribute flows, affecting the benefits obtainable from improving other components, and synergies arise from concurrently building or closing nearby components. Existing methods cannot adequately optimize the combinatorially explosive number of sequencing and scheduling alternatives, and although basic methods exist for mutually exclusive or independent projects, methods for handling interrelated projects are sorely deficient. Scheduling Interrelated Concurrent Projects in Transportation Networks improves an analysis framework previously developed by the research team for optimizing interrelated planning and scheduling decisions for transportation infrastructure. The main improvements are to consider when and how different construction and maintenance projects should be scheduled concurrently, with partial overlaps in their construction schedules, and to integrate the planning and scheduling of maintenance and operational alternatives with previously considered new-construction alternatives, while addressing uncertainties in future demand, costs, budgets, and technologies. Conducted by the University of Maryland over an 18-month period, the project will produce a review of the relevant literature and state of practice, including a survey of agency needs; methods for selecting and scheduling concurrent infrastructure development activities, focused on construction alternatives for road networks such as new roads, widened roads, and expanded intersections; and methods for scheduling maintenance projects and operational improvements, focused on pavement maintenance and traffic signal control. These methods will be integrated and tested to explore network improvement schedules under various objectives, constraints, demand scenarios, and uncertainties, with statistical tests used to estimate nearness to global optimality. Deliverables include staged technical reports, a final report, at least two journal papers, conference presentations, additional software, and a user manual.

• Record URL:
  • https://smartercenter.org/about-2/projects/scheduling-interrelated-concurrent-projects-in-transportation-networks/

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $400,000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3552348303

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Safety and Mobility Advancements Regional Transportation and Economics Research Center

  Morgan State University
  Baltimore, MD  United States 
• Performing Organizations:

  Safety and Mobility Advancements Regional Transportation and Economics Research Center

  Morgan State University
  Baltimore, MD  United States 
• Principal Investigators:

  Schonfeld, Paul

• Start Date: 20260801
• Expected Completion Date: 20280301
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Construction projects; Construction scheduling; Pavement maintenance; Road construction; Traffic signal control systems; Transportation planning
• Subject Areas: Construction; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Operations and Traffic Management; Pavements; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01998034
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Sustainable Mobility and Accessibility Regional Transportation Equity Research Center
• Contract Numbers: 69A3552348303
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Aug 1 2026 10:24AM