A study was undertaken for the alabama highway department to determine whether field maintenance operations would be more efficient if one or more of the nine division offices were relocated, or if anadditional division office was constructed. historical changes in division office locations or division boundaries, previous studies performed by the department to find optimum locations of district (county-level maintenance) offices, and results of extensive interviews with department managers were examined. additionally, the research staff obtained data on field office locations from other southeasterndepartments of transportation, compared division characteristics tolook for more efficient arrangements, conducted two different typesof modeling exercises, and performed an economic analysis. the study found that one existing division office could be moved approximately 50 mi to substantially enhance work travel patterns. the payback period for the relocation of this office would be 5 to 7 years. as aresult of the study, the alabama highway department has begun the relocation of the division office. this paper appears in transportation research record no. 1304, highway maintenance operations and research 1991.
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