This synthesis presents a review of the current practices associated with the techniques and policies employed by state and local transportation agencies to address the many project development issues required for the reconstruction of existing urban and suburban freeways and expressways. This topic is of special interest because there is a need to reconstruct many highway facilities that have been in existence for over 40 years. The need arises both from the deterioration of the infrastructure and from changes in capacity requirements. This synthesis will be of interest to state and local highway design engineers, traffic engineers, finance and contracting specialists, and contracting personnel in these agencies. It will also be of interest to consultants who are engaged in freeway/expressway reconstruction projects. Administrators, engineers, and researchers are continually faced with highway problems on which much information exists, either in the form of reports or in terms of undocumented experience and practice. Unfortunately, this information often is scattered and unevaluated and, as a consequence, in seeking solutions, full information on what has been learned about a problem frequently is not assembled. Costly research findings may go unused, valuable experience may be overlooked, and full consideration may not be given to available practices for solving or alleviating the problem. In an effort to correct this situation, a continuing NCHRP project, carried out by the Transportation Research Board as the research agency, has the objective of reporting on common highway problems and synthesising available information. The synthesis reports from this endeavour constitute an NCHRP publication series in which various forms of relevant information are assembled into single, concise documents pertaining to specific highway problems or sets of closely related problems. While many of the project development methodologies in practice for reconstruction of urban and suburban freeways and expressways are similar to those used for new construction, there are unique differences that apply primarily to the reconstruction of major urban highway facilities. This report of the Transportation Research Board highlights the similarities and differences in the planning and management of projects as well as in contracting and financing innovations. Methods for effectively managing traffic during the reconstruction process are important to the process. as are traffic control procedures in the work zone. Public participation and public information dissemination related to traffic changes are vitally important to the effective completion of a reconstruction project. Other aspects, such as the design process, including the use of 3-D and 4-D visualisation: pavement renewal procedures; environmental impact mitigation and enhancement activities that are considered in the process are also addressed. To develop this synthesis in a comprehensive manner and to ensure inclusion of significant knowledge, the Board analysed available information assembled from numerous sources, including a large number of state highway and transportation departments. A topic panel of experts in the subject area was established to guide the research in organising and evaluating the collected data, and to review the final synthesis report. This synthesis is an immediately useful document that records the practices that were acceptable within the limitations of the knowledge available at the time of its preparation. As the processes of advancement continue, new knowledge can he expected to be added to that now at hand. (A)
Abstract