A computer model for scheduling of highway construction

The construction of highway projects is often associated with traffic congestion due to partial or complete road closures during construction operations. In order to minimize these adverse effects on the travelling public, state highway agencies across North America are attempting to minimize the duration of construction by providing contractors with financial incentives to reduce construction duration. In order to realize these financial benefits, a highway contractor needs to establish a delicate balance between the financial rewards realized from reducing construction duration and the additional direct cost that may result from such acceleration. This paper presents a computer model for scheduling of highway construction that is capable of establishing this optimum balance. The development of the model is based on an object-oriented modeling approach and consists of three stages: analysis, design, and implementation. The model incorporates two recently developed algorithms for resource-driven scheduling and optimized scheduling. The model is implemented using C++ programming language as a 32-bit windows application that runs on Microsoft Windows 98 and NT and provides a user-friendly interface. The developed model can assist highway contractors in formulating an optimum resource utilization strategy for minimizing the overall costs of highway construction. This can prove useful to contractors and can assist them in meeting the demands of various state highway agencies to reduce the duration of construction.