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There are five goals within the program, and
each goal is being implemented with the CS3 process in mind. The goals
include:
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Stimulate Oregon’s economy.
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Use efficient and cost-effective delivery
practices.
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Maintain freight mobility/keep traffic moving.
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Build projects sensitive to their communities
and landscape.
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Capitalize on funding opportunities.
For the OTIA III program, we have developed a CS3
certification, which can be earned by taking defined training modules. After
the required training modules are completed, individuals, consulting firms,
and contractors will become CS3 certified. Consultant Designers for the OTIA
III Bridge Program will be required to take a certain amount of this
training in order to participate in the program.
Bridge bundling
The CS3 process is being implemented within each of
the program goals. An example of how this process is being used in order to
use efficient and cost-effective delivery practices is in the way the
bridges are bundled for design and construction.
The program began with 365 individual bridges to be
repaired or replaced. The majority are primarily short-span routine highway
bridges, each offering different opportunities arising at each bridge site.
To implement the CS3 process for bundling these bridges into construction
contracts, five areas were analyzed and addressed: design, construction
permitting, program management, and mobility. Our team, working with the
client, realized that having these bridges replaced one or two at a time was
not efficient from a schedule or budget perspective, and having one or two
construction contracts to deliver all of the bridges would not meet the
goals of the program.
The construction contracts needed to be of such a
size and complexity as to give Oregon contractors and design firms the
ability to compete and win these contracts in a low-bid process. The 365
bridges were thus broken into approximately 80 bundles ranging from
approximately $1 million to $50 million dollars in construction value. They
were also combined with other transportation work within the same vicinity
to encourage the get in-get out-stay out philosophy of minimizing impact on
the traveling public.
From a design management perspective, this process
greatly reduced the number of contracts required to go through the
selection, negotiation, and review processes. It also allowed bridges with
similar scope and the same geographic vicinity to be grouped together, thus
economies of scale could be taken advantage of through repetitive work.
Alternate construction techniques such as the use of the Mammoet rapid
replacement, high-strength steel or concrete, precast segments, and shallow
depth concrete members were considered as well.
For construction, this bundling process allows for
different contracting practices such as design-build, inclusion of time and
cost in the bids, different types of bonuses, incentives and disincentives,
and lane rentals to be considered and used together. The smaller and
mid-sized contractors can then more easily manage their workload, spreading
labor and their subcontractor efforts among the different bridge sites.
Construction engineering inspection costs are more efficient with staffing
within a corridor verses a single bridge site. It also allows for repetitive
work within a contract for repair and replacement of numerous bridges and
thus reduces the number of contractors in a given area, minimizing the
overlap in construction zones by different contractors.
Programmed permitting
 |
| Joint design, permitting, program
management, regional public involvement, and mobility are five
milestones of the program. |
Permitting of bridge sites can be a time-consuming
and tedious process. For this program, the State of Oregon has collaborated
with the different agencies involved in permitting and has developed
programmatic permits that can be used for all of the OTIA III bridges. This
is the first time this concept has been used and is a great example of how
the CS3 process works. Oregon, as in many environmentally aware states,
restricts access to certain bodies of water during seasonal use by
endangered or threatened species. The inclusiveness of all aspects of the
program coordinates these in-water work times and locations, which enable
contractors better staff utilization and planning. It also allows monitoring
of the programmatic permits within a corridor and for the use of larger
scale mitigation banks.
Program management reaps the benefit of having fewer
bundles to manage. This, in turn, helps the program to be delivered within a
shorter time frame. Bundling also aids in the area of public involvement, as
people come into the process on a regional basis rather than on a
bridge-by-bridge basis.
Mobility is one of the key milestones of the
program. Total project integration optimizes efficient mobility within the
state, so we are able to help keep traffic moving and stimulate the economy.
Here, the bundling of the bridges helps to minimize conflicts within
contractor’s maintenance of traffic plans between contracts, managing these
work zones more efficiently.
Each of these five areas shows advantages through
this one aspect of implementing the CS3 guidelines. There are normally
conflicting goals between these areas, but the CS3 approach necessitates the
weighing of each against the other, allowing for the best decisions to be
made for the right reasons. These decisions are continually monitored, and
if the outcomes are not optimal, adjustments can be made. The ability to
respond quickly and efficiently to all challenges is what the CS3 philosophy
perfects.
Large-scale programs and joint ventures are truly
challenging, yet they bring about opportunities to develop innovative ways
to approach business as usual. An integrated, team approach grants to
everyone a chance to be involved and CS3 has given all of us a way to work
as true partners and to present the best possible product to both our client
and the citizens of Oregon. |
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