Sample of Legal Provision Retrieval Using Topic Clustering to Support Utility Relocation Agreement Drafting in Highway Projects
Publication: Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction
Volume 16, Issue 2
Abstract
Utility agreements are legal documents containing specialized clauses that legally define stakeholders’ responsibilities for eliminating utility relocation delays in the right of way of highway projects. However, retrieving sample language for developing such an agreement remains a manual, time-consuming, and labor-intensive task. No previous study has developed a database for quick retrieval of sample clauses retrieval. This paper presents the first effort to develop a well-structured database of utility-related clauses in highway construction projects. This is achieved through an unsupervised topic modeling that utilizes latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) and natural language processing (NLP) techniques. Through this model, utility-related legal clauses were categorized into six prominent topics. Topics such as dispute resolution and communication emerge as primary areas, encompassing a substantial number of clauses. By harnessing the LDA-based topic classification model, transportation departments can effectively identify prevailing topics and patterns in legal language used by other agencies. This advancement streamlines the process of formulating provisions concerning utility relocation, thereby enhancing the overall efficiency of highway projects.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, or codes that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This publication was made possible by South Carolina Department of Transportation (SPR #756). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of SCDOT.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction
Volume 16 • Issue 2 • May 2024
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 14, 2023
Accepted: Oct 3, 2023
Published online: Dec 20, 2023
Published in print: May 1, 2024
Discussion open until: May 20, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Business management
- Computing in civil engineering
- Construction engineering
- Construction industry
- Construction management
- Databases
- Highway and road management
- Highway transportation
- Highways and roads
- Information Technology (IT)
- Infrastructure
- Infrastructure construction
- Legal affairs
- Lifeline systems
- Practice and Profession
- Project delay
- Project management
- Traffic delay
- Traffic engineering
- Traffic management
- Transportation engineering
- Utilities
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