Context-Sensitive Construction in Kentucky

Abstract

The development of a new initiative for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to involve resident engineers and contractors in the project development process, especially for environmentally sensitive projects, is summarized. To meet the demands of human and natural environmental issues on transportation projects, many departments of transportation are embracing the tenets of context-sensitive design for their projects. Some have begun to expand this involvement to all participants in the project development process and are calling this initiative "context-sensitive solutions." The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet believes that it is critical to involve its resident engineers and contractors in the process to ensure success on environmentally sensitive projects. In the planning and design stages of project development, the commitments that are made are not always carried into the construction stage and implemented. Context-sensitive construction is the integration of the concepts of context-sensitive design into the construction process and adherence to all commitments made during the earlier stages of project development. The Kentucky Transportation Center and the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Kentucky developed a training program to introduce the concepts of context-sensitive solutions for the construction phase of a project to industry and cabinet personnel, and that program is described.