Highway Specifications: Link to Quality

Specifications are part of the basic contract documents for a highway construction project. The importance of good specifications and the enforcement of them cannot be overemphasized. A good specification must be fair, reasonable, and brief, yet sufficiently detailed to achieve the desired ends and strike a balance between quality, aesthetics, and costs. Frequently the basic principles of writing specifications are overlooked, resulting in confusion, poor quality construction, poor quality material, and problems in contract administration. Specifications are a major challenge to our current and future highway programs because of (1) Changes in highway materials and construction practices; (2) shifts in the nature of highway work from new construction to complex rehabilitation and reconstruction; (3) major turnovers of experienced personnel in both the public and private sectors of the industry; and (4) the expanding highway program.