The management of heavy construction equipment is a difficult task. Equipment managers are often called upon to make complex economic decisions involving the machines in their charge. These decisions include those concerning acquisitions, maintenance, repairs, rebuilds, replacements, and...

Infrastructure management must move from a perspective that may singularly emphasize facility condition assessment to a broader view that involves nonphysical factors, which may substantially impact facility performance and shorten its service life. Socioeconomic, technological, regulatory, and...

Existing budgeting approaches differ in whether or not they consider the time value of money. A novel use of singularity functions in construction management has the potential to enhance cash flow models in order to maximize their net present value. This type of function can model a complete...

Despite theoretical advancements in alternative project planning methods the extent of their practical implementation varies strongly; it has been limited especially in the US construction industry. The family of linear, repetitive, and location-based scheduling techniques holds significant but...

Competitive bidding, where the project is awarded to the lowest bidder, is a basic part of the construction industry. This method of project delivery is designed to promote healthy competition in an attempt ensure the lowest price for the project. A contractor knows that lowering a bid price...

With the recent developments of several bridge managements systems and their wide-spread use, bridge engineers are realizing the importance of systematic and well planned investments and appropriate management. However the results are far from satisfactory. Bridge management systems need more...

Performance based contracting in the transportation arena is a rather recently implemented concept which has a few number of applications in the United States up to date. Nonetheless, the US Department of Transportation has vigorously promoted (by issuing memorandums to be distributed to the...

Accurate and reasonable contract time is important to all aspects of a highway construction project. Unreasonably short contract times can raise the bid price, restrict qualified bidders from submitting bids, reduce the quality of the work, and increase the potential for legal disputes....