This report of the Transportation Research Board summarizes the current value engineering (VE) practices of highway transportation agencies in the United States and Canada. The synthesis identifies the reported best practices, key strengths, and challenges of current VE study processes and agency programs. The report is intended to serve as a guide to those agencies interested in applying VE and/or improving the effectiveness of VE in their projects and programs. Key topics discussed include policies, guidelines, and selection; education and awareness; applications; implementation; monitoring; and future needs. A brief history is provided that traces the development of VE applications in transportation projects from the 1960s to the present. This synthesis is based on information collected during a detailed literature search and from documents made available by selected transportation agencies and municipalities in North America. In addition, a survey was distributed to 53 transportation agencies in the United States and 13 transportation agencies in Canada (provinces and territories) and major municipalities. David C. Wilson, NCE Limited, Markham, Ontario, Canada, collected and synthesized the information and wrote the report, under the guidance of a panel of experts in the subject area. The members of the topic panel are acknowledged on the preceding page. 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 progress in research and practice continues, new knowledge will be added to that now at hand. (Author/publisher) This report may be accessed by Internet users at http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_syn_352.pdf
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