DEVELOPING A DECISION-MAKING ASSISTING TOOL FORNIGHTTIME CONSTRUCTION IN HIGHWAY PROJECTS

摘要

This paper presents a decision-making assisting tool that is intended to help highwayagencies in evaluating the suitability of nighttime construction for highway projects. This tool wasdeveloped as part of a research project sponsored by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT).The tool is a simple software package that was developed using Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and VisualBasic for Applications (VBA). The proposed tool utilizes the cost- effectiveness analysis as a basis forcomparison between daytime and nighttime operations. The proposed tool is mainly used whenevernight shift is thought of as an alternative to the conventional daytime shift. Nonetheless, the tool is alsogeneric in the sense that it can be used to compare different alternative plans such as different laneclosure strategies or scheduling alternatives.