'Mining VE Gold in the Gold Mine of Smaller Transportation Projects'

摘要

In 2013, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) doubled the VE-study, qualifying thresholds for highway and bridge projects ($25M/$20M to $50M/$40M). Since that time, the number of state DOT VE studies and their corresponding annual VE savings have fallen by about 50 percent. For some states, this change has made FHWA-mandated VE studies very rare. However, some other states have not limited their VE studies to FHWA-mandated thresholds. For example, the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) has continued to conduct VE studies on smaller projects to stretch their program dollars. One recent example is the VE study for a rural interchange project near Lake of the Ozarks, MO. Though the project's estimated cost was only $12 million, MoDOT selected it for a VE study because of its location and complexities that appeared to provide potential for VE savings. In a three-day, VE workshop, scaled to its smaller project size, the VE team developed VE proposals that resulted in $2.85 million in accepted VE savings (23% of construction cost) and a 68% increase in value. This paper summarizes the project, process, and results of the VE study that affirm the potential benefits of using VE on projects well below the FHWA thresholds. Most DOT programs contain a "gold mine" of VE savings that can "mined" through scaled VE studies conducted on smaller projects. Conducting VE studies on applicable projects below the FHWA thresholds can thereby stretch the purchasing power of DOT program dollars with "VE gold."