Development of a User Cost Estimation Procedure for Work Zones.

• Main Author: Adams, Michael Roy
• Format: Others
• Published: BYU ScholarsArchive 2005
• Subjects: user costs; work zone; incentive; Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Online Access: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/572; https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1571&context=etd

Work zones associated with highway construction projects create localized bottlenecks where the average traffic speed is reduced and queues are formed, thus causing increased costs as a result of the additional time and fuel needed to traverse the work zone. These user costs can be estimated and applied as a form of incentive to the contractor to complete the work sooner, thus allowing traffic to return to the free-flow speed. Methods to determine user costs are explored through a literature search, questionnaire survey, and interviews with employees of the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT). Based on the research and interviews, a program named DUCK was developed to estimate the costs attributed to the reduction of speed through a work zone. A plan using DUCK and another program, DelayE, is recommended to UDOT, along with a description of these computer programs and how they estimate user costs.