AASHTO Journal, 10 October 2014
Photo courtesy MDOT.
If time is money, Michigan’s Department of Transportation is showing how to save plenty of both by using electronic document forms to replace paper on highway construction projects, slashing paperwork costs and gaining huge time efficiencies when making design changes.
The results are showing up fast, with MDOT Director Kirk Steudle citing “unparalleled gains in productivity” and hefty dollar savings, in a report by Crain’s Detroit Business newspaper. Projects using “e-construction” methods can wrap up faster and under budget than with the traditional paper trails, the story explains, so the agency can stretch its funding to get more road work done.
Steudle told Crain’s that MDOT has been sharply expanding its use of laptop and cellphone-generated software through an e-construction program this year. The effort is expected to eliminate more than 7 million sheets of paper in fiscal 2015 at a savings of $4 million.
But that’s just for starters.
Steudle said with mobile design of surveying software and electronic documentation, a design change that might have taken up to four months for a construction project can now be completed in 3 to 4 days.
And paper payroll invoices that had to be reviewed and signed by many MDOT oversight inspectors are now electronic and need only a part-time review, reportedly savings thousands of MDOT hours and freeing inspectors to be on the job site.
All of that helps contractors complete the construction earlier and appears to be showing up in lower project bids.
Photo courtesy MDOT.
“This is our opportunity to have really large savings,” Steudle said.
The in-depth story spells out how MDOT completed three small e-construction projects in 2013, one of which saved 170,000 pieces of paper, which worked out to $300,000 in printing, mail and processing costs – with MDOT capturing most of that savings.
This year, after the harshest winter on record left MDOT with plenty of repairs to do with a constrained budget, efficiencies became more urgent.
What Michigan is learning in its high-tech push is likely to help other states, too. Steudle and other MDOT officials are also working with the Federal Highway Administration and the Texas Department of Transportation to speed up deployment of e-construction techniques around the country, Crain reports.