| dc.description.abstract | Escalation of right-of-way (ROW) costs have been shown to be a prime
contributor to project cost escalation in the highway industry. Two problems contribute
to ROW cost escalation: 1) the ROW cost estimation and cost estimate management
process generally lacks structure and definition as compared to other areas of cost
estimation; and 2) there is a lack of integration and communication between those
responsible for ROW cost estimating and those responsible for general project cost
estimating. The research for this thesis was preceded by a literature review to establish
the basis for the study. Data collection was completed through interviews of seven state
highway agencies (SHAs) and two local public agencies (LPAs). The findings of the
research are presented in a set of ROW flowcharts which document the steps, inputs, and
outputs of the ROW cost estimation and cost estimate management process.
Three ROW cost estimates and a cost management process take place throughout
project development. An effort was made from the onset of the research to relate the
ROW cost estimating and cost estimate management process to the first four project
development phases (planning, programming. preliminary design, and final design).
There are five flowcharts produced as a result of this research: 1) an agency-level
flowchart showing all cost estimates and the interaction of ROW with the project
development process; 2) a conceptual ROW cost estimating flowchart which depicts the
required steps during planning; 3) a baseline ROW cost estimating flowchart which
depicts the required steps during programming; 4) an update ROW cost estimating
flowchart which depicts the required steps during preliminary design to include a cost estimate management loop; and 5) a ROW cost management flowchart which depicts the
required steps during final design.
Although selected SHA contacts provided input following the development of
the flowcharts, the flowcharts were only validated to a limited extent due to time and
budget constraints. These flowcharts attempt to address the two contributing problems to
ROW cost escalation by providing structure to the ROW cost estimation process and by
developing the ROW process flowcharts linked to the project development process.
Based on the input provided by SHA contacts, the flowcharts appear to have the
potential to provide guidance to SHAs in improving the accuracy of ROW cost estimates
through addressing these two problems. | en |
