Development of Group Decision-Support Model and System for Combined Transportation and Utility Construction

As more and more transportation projects are located in highly congested metro settings, many projects require that adjacent utilities be adjusted to make room for new or expanded highway facilities. The adjustment of utilities prior to highway construction is a highly challenging operation from many perspectives. One major strategic approach that has emerged over the last 15 years is for state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) to combine utility adjustment work with the highway contractor's scope of work, thereby eliminating or reducing some of the associated complications and risks. While many benefits can result from this combined approach, it does have its disadvantages and own set of challenges. Hence, in the highway planning and design phase, a decision support model and a Group Decision-Support System (GDSS) were proposed to provide guidance to both state DOTs and utility decision-makers as to when the combined approach could be applied. This paper discusses the design of the decision support model and its system. With the use of GDSS, state DOTs and utility decision-makers can quickly realize the most important problems that need to be addressed and discuss solutions. A scenario using the proposed system on a hypothetical utility adjustment is presented.