Reducing state transportation construction delays and costs

CAI helps a state Department of Transportation streamline and automate their workflows to improve end-user experience.

Critical projects, rising construction costs

Nearly 90% of this state Department of Transportation (DOT)’s highway and bridge projects require temporary or permanent utility relocations. These relocations pose major risks to highway and bridge construction projects. Large projects may require relocation administrators and designers to orchestrate the relocation of hundreds of poles, lines, and underground facilities with multiple utility organizations.

Coordinating these moves with the construction schedule and the activities of other utility companies is complex and time-consuming. One miscalculation in a utility’s relocation schedule, or one missed conflict, has the potential to cascade into costly delays with other utilities and the overall construction schedule. The delays can increase contractor costs, material costs, equipment leases, and staff time to manage the schedule extensions. They also cause frustration for local communities and governments.

Faced with rising construction costs due to delays, this state DOT recognized a need to better manage utility relocations and minimize their impact on highway and bridge projects.

A modernized application to improve utility relocation processes

The DOT assembled a cross-disciplinary team to identify ways to improve their utility relocation activities in both design and construction. They identified that the long-term solution would require IT system improvements that increase the visibility of utility relocation data and milestones, providing them with better coordination and management of relocation activities.

Additionally, the team decided to leverage the new IT solution to modernize and improve how they do business with their utility partners. This new, modern application would:

  • Provide a single point of access for utilities with an intuitive, customer-focused user interface (UI)
  • Simplify and automate utility relocation processes
  • Automate and standardize utility relocation documents and communications across all districts
  • Facilitate knowledge sharing across the DOT, utility, and consultant teams involved in a construction project

Alongside a CAI team, the DOT reinvented its utility relocation planning and management processes with a solution that drives accurate and timely collection of data. This facilitates better tracking of a relocation project from inception through design and construction. Using a phased approach, the team was able to build the application and associated processes incrementally, helping them train and build their experience in stages with each new release.

In addition to implementing a wide range of utility relocation features and process improvements, the new application also incorporates modern technologies and development approaches that further drive business value. Some of these include:

  • Responsive UI frameworks that support varying screen sizes and devices, allowing for more effective use in the field
  • Single sign-on to streamline user experience
  • Data-driven configurations that allow the business to modify application rules, page permissions, and content without the need for a maintenance release

IT and business stakeholders collaborated closely with internal and external utility relocation stakeholders to ensure continual engagement and alignment. This close involvement of end users largely contributed to the success of the project. This holistic approach to development taken by the DOT allowed for successful ideation, deployment, and launch, and end users were better able to handle these critical relocation projects.

Proven results and cost savings

This customized, modern application is the industry leader in utility relocation management software. No other custom or off-the-shelf product automates and drives the utility relocation process, and the application saves the DOT millions of dollars a year, allowing them to focus their time and resources on the relocations themselves rather than the administration of the program.

Prior to the application’s deployment, only a handful of utility companies leveraged the DOT software, and they only used it for document upload. Today, over 500 utility companies are registered, and 2,250 employees and contractors use the application. This increased use and collaboration ensures projects can meet all stakeholder needs and that construction projects can proceed as planned.

The application also automated and streamlined many of the relocation processes, allowing the DOT to realize immediate cost savings by reducing the time it takes to produce, send, and upload key documents.

Another major benefit of the application’s standardized workflows is that conflicts are identified earlier, making it much easier to mitigate or avoid conflicts altogether. Since its rollout, 2,110 conflicts have either been avoided or accommodated without relocation. Avoiding these relocations saved the DOT over $33 million to date.

With streamlined, automated workflows and a drastically improved end-user experience, the state DOT can better complete key infrastructure projects without additional challenges posed by utility relocations.

At CAI, we partner closely with transportation agencies to propel transformation forward, allowing teams to meet and exceed expectations. Our comprehensive approach to service delivery allows us to build and organize the right team for any initiative. If you’re interested in modernizing your applications to improve your operations, contact us.

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