Utility Relocation Concept Plan for Mitigation of Utility Relocation Delays
Publication: Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 13, Issue 1
Abstract
Utility conflicts are a primary cause of construction project delays. To mitigate delays, utility coordination is necessary. Existing utility coordination and communication studies lack an interactive method. This study aims to develop a method for utility coordination and utility conflict management that engages the utility owners early in the project development process to mitigate utility relocation delays. This study contributes to utility coordination by addressing the identified gap of improved incorporation of utility coordination processes into a project. This study provides and tests an interactive communication and model—utility relocation concept plan (URCP)—to develop utility conflict mitigation approaches that are agreeable between the utility owner, project owner, and contractor. URCP is a streamlined utility coordination technique and model that can be used in conjunction with current utility conflict management techniques in the industry. To the authors’ knowledge, a URCP is not currently in use in the industry outside of Kiewit Construction Corporation, nor is a URCP presented in the literature. The development of the URCP facilitates interactive visual discussions between the engineer, contractor, and utility owner. This interaction allows the relocations to be designed by all parties as well as provides advanced notification to the utility owners. Case study analysis revealed that when a URCP was utilized as a utility coordination tool, the amount of time it took to mitigate utility conflicts was reduced by 14.77%. Further research would be required to determine the viability of the URCP method in other geographic areas and other project delivery systems outside of design-build delivery projects.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Published In
Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 13 • Issue 1 • February 2022
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 26, 2021
Accepted: Oct 22, 2021
Published online: Dec 8, 2021
Published in print: Feb 1, 2022
Discussion open until: May 8, 2022
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