Study of Design and Construction of Transit Facilities in Rural Areas in USA

Sharareh Kermanshachi,Elnaz Safapour,Apurva Pamidimukkala

doi:10.3390/su14031338

Abstract

The United States rural transit facilities have a considerable impact on annual transportation expenditures as there are many of them and they are geographically dispersed. It is challenging to estimate the design and construction costs of the facilities, as the historical and documented cost database is insufficient; therefore, the ultimate aim of this study was to establish a baseline estimate for design and construction costs. Additionally, the key information associated with the different aspects of rural transit facility projects was also provided in this study. Interviews were conducted with professional managers of different departments of transportation (DOTs) who were involved in rural transit projects. A structured survey was then developed and distributed to various DOT representatives, and 26 of them were completed and returned. Two regression models were generated by utilizing the survey data to predict the design and construction costs of rural transit facilities, based on the size of the projects. Furthermore, the results revealed that issues arising from soil conditions and unexpected underground conditions are frequently risk factors for construction of transit facilities. It was also concluded that the popular approach to estimating the cost of the design and construction phases associated with transit facility projects is to use the data from similar projects. These findings support the need for additional literature to provide a baseline estimate for design and construction costs and key information of different important aspects of rural transit facilities.

Highlights

Many of the rural areas in the United States struggle to retain a sufficient range of facilities ensuring necessary services to the local population
The United States Census defines a rural area based on its population density; a rural area is defined as an area with a population of less than 1000 persons per square mile [5]
The results demonstrated that 75% of studied rural transit facility projects used a percentage of construction cost for estimating the contingency value

Summary

Introduction

Many of the rural areas in the United States struggle to retain a sufficient range of facilities ensuring necessary services to the local population. These difficulties are exacerbated in areas experiencing population decline [1,2]. Existing literature provides multiple definitions for rural areas [3,4,5]. In 2001, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) defined a rural area as an area with a population of less than 5000 and/or the outside area of a metropolitan area with a population of less than 50,000 people [4]. The research team adopted the FHWA 2001 definition

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Methods

Discussion

Conclusion