"Practical Design"
to Save Nearly $400 million
JEFFERSON
CITY - Using a new concept for highway design, the Missouri Department
of Transportation will save nearly $400 million over the next
five years, department officials said today. By using "Practical
Design" when planning highway construction projects, MoDOT will
customize projects to fit specific needs, rather than apply generic
standards across the board. The money saved will fund additional
projects.
The
design concept and project savings were unveiled today at
a meeting of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission.
"Our
goal is to build the best transportation system in the country,"
said MoDOT Director Pete Rahn. "The bottom line to Practical
Design is that MoDOT will be fixing more roads in Missouri."
Using
Practical Design, engineers and planners make project decisions
based on the specific purpose and need for the improvement, modifying
project features that are desirable, but not necessary. The
cost savings total was determined by examining all projects scheduled
for construction in the next five years.
"It's
a lot like when you go to buy a car," Rahn said. "You might
like to have leather seats, but cloth will do the job at a lower
price. You can then spend the money you saved on something
else."
"Using
the traditional approach to designing projects - like nearly all
departments of transportation do - we've built some great projects,
but in some cases we've built features that went above what was
needed to address the problem," said Chief Engineer Kevin Keith.
"Practical design will focus us to build only what's necessary
to address the transportation need.
"For
example, why replace an entire bridge if only a new bridge deck
is needed," Keith said.
Rahn
emphasized the fundamental quality and safety of projects will
not be compromised.
"Every
project we build will remain high-quality and will address the
needs. And two things I promise - we'll never compromise safety,
and every dollar saved will go back to the roads to improve our
highway system.
"What
we're really after here is building good projects and building more
of them. We can stretch our dollars to address more transportation
needs than in the past. By building many good projects,
we can create a great transportation system."
