Road Projects Research Articles

Practical Optimization of Access Road Construction Methods in Soft Soil Areas

In one of the smelter projects at West Kalimantan, access road construction was planned to use soil embankment above the geo-membrane layer. But this method is not highly effective considering rainfall intensity is very high in the project location. Therefore, optimization needs to be done to obtain the most effective method in terms of cost and timely accomplishment of the access road. The optimization method is done by making a comparison matrix of the output results of the running simulation schedule on software. From the several methods proposed, the duration of completion, completion costs, and resource requirements are compared and scored to get the most optimized method. Other than that, carbon emissions resulting from each method are also compared. The optimization result concluded that boulder stone layer addition with optimum quantity in the embankment is the most optimal method considering the remaining time and encountering intensive rainfall. This optimized method can result in an accelerated construction duration of 140 days, cost efficiency of 11.46%, and a reduction in carbon emissions of 44% compared to the initial method. This optimization method is expected can be applied to access road embankment projects of soft soil areas in other locations, especially in the Kalimantan region.

Jewish “Ghosts”: Judit Hersko and Susan Hiller and the Feminist Intersectional Art of Post-Holocaust Memory

This article delves into the underexplored intersection of Jewish identities and feminist art. It critically examines artworks by Judit Hersko and Susan Hiller, aligning with evolving identity constructs in contemporary aesthetics. Concepts like “postmemory” link second-generation Jewish artists to past experiences and unveil the erasure of Jewish women’s memory of Jewish genocide. Analyzing Hersko and Hiller’s diverse works, from landscape photography and sculpture to performance art, it underscores their shared pursuit: illuminating lingering “ghosts” of the Holocaust in modern landscapes. Susan Hiller’s The J Street Project represents an ongoing exploration of loss and trauma beyond the Holocaust in Germany, using archives as a dynamic, evolving phenomenon. Judit Hersko’s art calls for bearing witness to a potential climate catastrophe in Antarctica. The article culminates in the exploration of “The Memorial” (2017), an art project by the activist collective Center for Political Beauty that focuses on the resurgence of overt anti-Semitism in Germany. In essence, Hiller and Hersko confront erasures in history and nature, emphasizing justice and repair. Their art, intertwined with a project addressing contemporary anti-Semitism, serves as a testament to the enduring power of feminist art, reflecting, mourning, and transforming a world marked by historical traumas and war.

Towards a better comparison of ex-post and ex-ante BCA's by decomposing potential causes of difference

Ex-post benefit-cost analyses (BCAs) can improve the accuracy of future ex-ante BCAs and strengthen accountability for policy implementation. However, benefits and costs are usually analyzed prior to policymaking, not after. The rare ex-post BCAs available consider road and rail projects and often face methodological challenges such as difficulties describing what would have occurred in the absence of a project (the counterfactual situation). Earlier studies also mention the problem of projects being evaluated too soon after implementation. Our case study evaluates benefits and costs of a Dutch waterway project more than 10 years after its implementation, including the counterfactual situation, and compare results of the ex-post BCA with those of the ex-ante BCA. The outcome of the ex-post BCA is negative. This is in contrast with the positive outcome of the ex-ante BCA. The difference between the ex-post BCA and the ex-ante BCA is decomposed by changing assumptions step-by-step. This enables us to isolate forecasting errors of the ex-ante BCA from other potential sources of differences, such as methodological differences resulting from changes in guidelines occurring in the period between the ex-ante and ex-post BCA. As far as we know, this approach has not been attempted before in ex-ante/ex-post comparisons of BCA's for transport projects. Ex-post BCAs that explicitly define the counterfactual situation, use up-to-date insights into economic developments and check changes in the methodologies applied should accordingly be carried out more often. Ex-ante/ex-post comparisons are useful tools to improve the accuracy of BCAs, especially when they decompose of sources of difference.

Development of a New Strategic Framework for Improving the Productivity Benchmarking Practices in Road Project Operations

Primarily, this study highlights the knowledge gaps in the field for implementing systematic techniques to benchmark and improve productivity levels of critical construction activities in road projects. Accordingly, the study aims to develop a new strategic framework that can enhance the benchmarking practices related to the assessment of labour productivity compared to labour performance with the use of potential apprenticeship tools and systems in road construction operations. A series of literature reviews and expert consultations were conducted to build a new framework with the collection of potential models/tools/systems related to labour training, performance evaluation and productivity measures. The mechanism associated with the developed framework was systematically executed in nine road construction projects in Sri Lanka. The findings show the precise patterns of significant changes in labour productivity and performance index values, which have inspired new approaches in the planning procedures for construction projects. The results assure that proposed mechanisms can be applied with reliable, generalisable and sustainable aspects in their use. The study offers a fresh road map with constructive approaches for project managers, planners and engineers to raise the bar for benchmarking labour productivity and performance levels across a wide range of tasks. The results of the study will have considerable impacts on how other emerging countries and enterprises need to operate their workflows to achieve productivity-related benefits in the future circumstances.

Evaluating the Performance-Based Grading of Construction Labour in Road Project Operations Through a New Apprenticeship Framework

The main issues facing the construction industry in many nations have been poor labour performance in work operations, leading to significantly influencing the quality, safety and productivity of construction processes/outcomes. By implementing efficient apprenticeship components, this study attempts to evaluate the effectiveness/performance of labour in road project operations through a case study. With action-oriented and problem-focused communication approaches, an exhaustive academic review and expert consultations were carried out to design a collection of methods/tools/systems linked to labour apprenticeship and performance assessment inside a framework. Through a newly established site supervisory apprenticeship programme, the developed procedures were implemented with more than 100 construction labourers engaged in nine Sri Lankan road projects. The results display the specific patterns of substantial changes in labour performance levels with the quantified values, which aid in the planning and formation of crew mixes for various project jobs, as well as proactive methods for managing and controlling labour in the construction industry. The findings ensure the generalisation of the developed practices/tools/mechanisms towards the sustainability of its applications. The study further adds advanced attributes to construction supervision job roles. The study findings/outcomes can make significant impacts on the practices of other developing nations and industries.

A novel approach for environmental impact assessment of road construction projects in India

The road sector is one of the basic pillars for national economic growth owing to its role in movement of goods and people and can contribute positively towards several sustainable development goals (SDGs). On the other hand, road construction using conventional methods can jeopardize the global progress towards climate action and other environmental related SDGs owing to large raw material requirements, fuel demand and pollution associated with it. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a useful quantitative tool to figure out which products and processes are responsible for majority of road's environmental impact at different stages. This information can then be used to design interventions and adopt alternative materials for improving the environmental profile of roads. However, the application of LCA in road sector in developing countries such as India has been limited owing to unavailability of funds to compile information regarding quantities of all materials used (inventory data) and their environmental characterization factors. Here we present a new approach that connects the publicly available road's bill of quantity (BOQ) and analysis of rates (AOR) documents with national construction materials environmental footprint database to calculate the road footprint. A case study on calculating the environmental impacts of a recently built 43 km state highway road in the Indian state of Gujarat is presented to demonstrate the steps involved in the new approach. The environmental impacts per kilometre of the road section came out to be 6.86 million MJ energy use, 281 tons CO2eq. GHG emissions, 0.013 kg CFC-11 eq. ozone depletion, 2.16 tons SO2eq. acidification, 0.35 tons PO4eq. eutrophication and 0.11 tons ethene eq. of photochemical oxidant formation. Among all life cycle phases, the material production stage contributes the highest to the total environmental footprint of the road section. Of the 52 materials used, bitumen, diesel, coarse/fine aggregate, galvanized iron (GI) pipe, concrete, thermoplastic paint used in road markings and steel corrugated sheet and channel post are responsible for majority of impacts. The template presented can be used in India and other developing countries to evaluate the environmental footprint of existing and future road projects.

Competitive performance of public–private partnerships: unsolicited proposal projects and tendering rules in South Korea

Unsolicited proposals (USPs) are permitted in many countries for public–private partnership (PPP) projects. Despite the importance of a competitive and transparent environment throughout the tendering process, USPs are typically known to have low competition and collusive agreements. This study reviews unsolicited road projects implemented through PPPs in South Korea, and empirically examines the relationship between transparency, tendering rules, and competition. First, it discovers that the weights of the price (or quantitative) components of tendering rules differ between the competitive USPs group with more than one bidder and the noncompetitive USPs group with only one bidder. All else being equal, regression analysis reveals that USPs with relatively higher weights for the price (or quantitative) components tend to have more bidders during the tendering process. Second, regression analysis identifies a measure that affects competition for USPs. With transparent and objective tendering rules, the level of competition is determined by the measure that captures how much the bidders’ scores would increase if their toll rates were decreased. Finally, a case study demonstrates how strategic behaviors and collusive agreements arise among bidders under USPs where the tendering rules are partially transparent and the initial proponents can reorganize their consortium during the tendering process. This study’s findings will contribute to expanding research on transparency and competition in tendering rules, as well as improve USPs in designing tendering rules to enhance competition.

Penyelesaian Sengketa dalam Pengadaan Tanah bagi Pembangunan Jalan Tol untuk Kepentingan Umum

Land issues in North Sumatra, especially in Medan City, still occur frequently, one of which is land acquisition for the construction of toll road infrastructure to accelerate development, facilitate access to production, distribution, and tourism areas, and create new jobs. Although this development accelerates the economic growth of the country and society, disputes related to land acquisition for public interest are inevitable. One of the cases that is the focus of this research is located in Sumatra Province, specifically the jurisdiction of the Medan District Court. The problem of this research is how legal protection for land rights owners due to land acquisition for toll roads and how the consignment process of compensation for land affected by toll road project acquisition. The research method used is normative juridical with an analytical descriptive approach, using the Legislation Approach. This research uses the Law Approach by collecting and analyzing statutory provisions related to the environment and corporations. The legal material collection technique used is library research, then analyzed qualitatively. The results showed that there is legal protection for the owner of the toll road acquisition through consignment settlement.

Building Information Modeling Uses and Complementary Technologies in Road Projects: A Systematic Review

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has been widely adopted in the building sector. However, it is still an emerging topic in road infrastructure projects despite its enormous potential to solve ongoing issues. While there have been several recent studies on BIM implementation in road projects, there is a lack of research analyzing the actual BIM Uses in road projects as reported in academic and technical documents. Considering this gap, this paper presents a systematic review of BIM Uses and complementary technologies to BIM in road infrastructure projects. The research method consisted of a systematic review composed of five stages: (1) question formulation, (2) searching of relevant documents, (3) document selection, (4) evidence collection, analysis, and synthesis, and (5) results report. A total of 384 documents were collected, from which 134 documents reporting BIM Uses on roads were analyzed. This study has two main contributions. First, 39 BIM Uses were identified, which are classified into nine categories: road design, traffic analysis, soil aspects, road safety, environmental issues, other engineering analysis, construction planning and analysis, cost analysis, and construction monitoring and control. Second, a set of 26 technologies complementary to BIM adoption in roads were identified, among the most prevalent of which are geographic information systems (GISs) and laser scanning. The results serve as a basis for researchers to learn about the status and propose future developments on BIM adoption in road infrastructure.

Economic impact on local businesses of road safety improvements in Seattle: implications for Vision Zero projects

BackgroundLocal transportation agencies implementing Vision Zero road safety improvement projects often face opposition from business owners concerned about the potential negative impact on their sales. Few studies have documented the...

Development of a risk-based strategy implementation of a full pre-financed contractor scheme (CPF) in toll road projects to improve time performance

Development of a risk-based strategy implementation of a full pre-financed contractor scheme (CPF) in toll road projects to improve time performance

Implementation Building Information Modelling For Construction Projects In Remote and Challenging Locations

This research discusses the innovative implementation of digitalization of infrastructure construction based on Building Information Modelling (BIM) 5D on the Toapejat - Rokot - Sioban Road and Bridge Handling Project (Simp. Logpon) in the Mentawai Islands. The focus is a collection of AEC software from Autodesk, including Revit, Civil 3D, Navisworks, and BIM 360, which supports the project's BIM goals. This method is proven to provide a holistic approach to planning, design, construction, and management of infrastructure projects. In the face of growing competition and innovation of BIM technology, this study emphasizes the need for continuous innovation for construction companies to participate in the development of digital construction technology. The project is considered a clear example of BIM's crucial role in overcoming construction challenges in remote areas, unlocking potential for future projects on isolated islands.

Impact of material supply chain on the productivity optimization for the construction of roads projects

Materials require special consideration when developing a project plan because they make up such a sizable chunk of the overall budget. Materials supply and delivery are crucial especially in road construction projects as they are required for the daily construction process. Lack of materials is a major source of jobsite productivity loss. This is due to the lack of structured communication and clearly defined tasks in the current materials management methods. The divergence between design and construction, the failure to coordinate and integrate multiple functional specializations, and poor communication lead to excessive fragmentation. All of these contribute to performance issues like late material ordering and delivery, low productivity, and budget overruns. This research develops a material supply chain (MSC) framework for best practices in road construction projects at all phases. This ensures that contractors receive the supplies they need at the optimum time, with the required quantities, and at the lowest possible cost. Contractors can enhance output, save money, and stay competitive. A questionnaire was designed to investigate current practices in MSC, identify the most common obstacles that faced contractors throughout the project phases, and identify the most important contributors to the integration of supply chain in construction. The developed framework was then evaluated by road construction experts; 90% stated that the proposed framework promotes project participants to share information and data. 80% assured that the framework promotes completing the project with desired quality and encourages problem solving before it even occurs.

AIIB Investment and Economic Development of India: The Case of the Gujarat Road Project

The purpose of this study is to verify whether the transportation infrastructure investment carried out by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has promoted the economic development of its recipient countries. Since the establishment of the AIIB, its investments in infrastructure development, aimed at promoting economic growth in Asian developing countries, have garnered considerable attention. This study selects India, the largest recipient country of the AIIB, as the research object and chooses the Gujarat Road Project as the research case, since it is a completed infrastructure construction investment project in the transportation field. This paper provides an overview of the project’s operation and summarizes key factors in the project’s implementation. In the data analysis section, the per capita GDP is selected as the explained variable to measure economic development, and the LASSO regression method is used to select several variables that affect economic development. Moreover, the random forest model is used to obtain the causal relationship between road construction and the per capita GDP from 2001 to 2022. The results indicate that road construction in India has a significant positive effect on per capita GDP growth, the Gujarat Road Project supported by the AIIB also has a positive effect on per capita GDP growth, and this effect is stronger than that at the national level. The main contribution of this work is the validation of the investment strategy of the AIIB and the quantification of the economic contribution of AIIB investment projects to the local area.

A mathematical tool for road design projects

This article introduces a mathematical tool for the semi-automatic design of multiple layout alternatives for a road, and the selection, between all of them, of the most suitable option in each particular case study. This tool is based on a mathematical programming model that includes the required technical constraints to ensure safe and comfortable driving (fulfilling the current Spanish legislation) and automates the process of selecting the connecting points to the former road. This optimization module is completed by two other modules: a clustering one, that groups the layouts obtained in corridors, and a decision-making aid one, which assists the engineer in the selection of a layout alternative in each corridor and, subsequently, in the choice of the optimal overall layout. The numerical results show the usefulness of this tool in a real-life case study that consists in designing a bypass on the Spanish road N-640 that circumvents the urban area of Meira (Lugo).

New OTC Derivative Instrument for BRI Grand Strategy Integration: Case of ‘China, Mongolia and Russia’

The Belt and Road Initiative is an economic integration plan. But at regional level, the financial capabilities of route countries do not allow the implementation of the Belt and Road. This is the need for and creation of a new financial form. This study aims to theoretically justify a new financial form for economic integration—new type of over-the-counter derivative financial instrument. This adaptation addresses the case of the transport corridor ‘China–Mongolia–Russia’ and ‘resident status’ of the Joint Economic Zone that will serve as a guarantee for the financial assets of the Belt and Road companies and increase their financial sustainability and investment revival in regions. In general, this has a positive effect on the development of the accounting system and increases the financial and investment interests of business participants, which can lead to new forms of entrepreneurial activity and become a catalyst for improving the welfare of regions of China–Mongolia–Russia transport corridor, and it is in line with the goals and investment initiatives of the Belt and Road project.

Analysis of Delay in Implementation of Work on Road Projects in Highways Division of Katingan Regency

ABSTRACT. This paper studied 21 road projects in Katingan Regency. In this research, nine factors were used, which were divided into 61 indicators that cause work delays. The analysis used in the research is descriptive analysis with index and variance analysis, which were previously tested for the validity and reliability of the questionnaire instrument.
 The research results show that 3 factors are very dominant in causing work delays, namely the equipment factor with indicators of delays in providing heavy equipment or delays in delivery or provision of equipment; material factors with indicators of delays in material delivery to the project location; and other factors with natural disaster indicators. Steps to minimize delays in work implementation are: holding periodic meetings; communicating and agreeing upon the critical path in order to obtain the most efficient and effective strategy; planning and scheduling the procurement of tools, materials, and labor in terms of purchasing, transportation, and delivery times; determining appropriate routes for transportation and delivery; determining the appropriate route and means of transportation for access to the project location to suit time and cost planning; as well as the readiness of supervisory consultants in the field to supervise contractor work methods.
 Keywords: Delays in Work Implementation, Delay Factors, Roads

Effect of Contract Management on Performance Roads Projects: A Case of Nyabihu District, Rwanda (2019-2022)

Effect of Contract Management on Performance Roads Projects: A Case of Nyabihu District, Rwanda (2019-2022)

Analisis Sistem Informasi Akuntansi Terhadap Pengeluaran Kas Pada PT PP (Persero) TBK (Proyek Trans Sumatera Tol Indrapura-Kisaran)

In the current era of globalization, technological developments are progressing rapidly, one example is accounting information systems, the large amount of expenditure for production and operational costs means that companies must be able to pay attention to this so that the desired things do not happen. In this research, researchers used qualitative methods based on library research. The results of this research indicate that PT. PP (Persero) Tbk (Trans Sumatra Indrapura-Kisaran Toll Road Project) has been implemented systematically and in accordance with the accounting system, as well as the cash disbursement accounting recording system which is effective and efficient. The company's internal control system for cash disbursements has been implemented well, and everyone in each unit has worked together to improve the cash and disbursement systems after the finance department discovered recording errors. This shows that there is a strong level of internal control implemented in each department, making it difficult to misappropriate and embezzle funds.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Road and Bridge Projects under Road Division Pokhara

COVID-19 is a global pandemic that has caused social disruption and altered the global economic perspective. The construction sector plays an essential role in the worldwide economy, drawing upon a diverse array of resources within regional economies. Since the COVID-19 outburst in Nepal, it has been a really difficult task for the construction sector to initiate a project or to continue running at a normal pace. The objective of this research was to determine the impact of COVID-19 on the road and bridge project under the road division Pokhara. About 52 respondents comprised contractors and client/consulting agencies at different structure questionnaires compatible with the requirement of the study were recorded. As a result, the eight most important factors were ranked based on the severity of the effect and prioritization of multiple factors on the project due to the pandemic. Obtained responses from consultant and contractor representatives, it was found that the factors beyond the control of projects, transportation shutdown were ranked first followed by the shortage of labor under manpower factor and others. This paper observes the actual severity of the various factors regarding construction projects due to the corona virus and will also lead to better management in upcoming pandemics. The results of this study establish the groundwork for future researchers and practitioners by offering suggestions for how to prioritize and re-organize work plans, workplace management, and strategies for unforeseen circumstances.