Quality Assurance, Quality Control in Transportation Construction Projects

摘要

Most state transportation agencies in the United States are moving toward allowing contractor-performed quality control. At the same time, many transportation agencies have serious concerns with using the contractor-reported data for acceptance and payment purposes. The concerns are many: Are we putting the contractor in a situation with potential for conflicts of interest? Are there enough safeguards in place to protect the transportation agency? Are independent verification protocols truly independent? To address these concerns, a large number of asphalt and concrete QA/QC projects in Kentucky were examined. A large number of statistical analyses were conducted, and this paper presents a summary of findings and recommendations. Generally speaking, the Kentucky experience revealed that the QA/QC system is working well. It is critical for the verification regime to be independent, and there seems to be adequate safeguards in place.