Data Base for Preliminary Cost Estimating

Abstract

Preliminary cost estimates for contracted construction, rehabilitation, and maintenance projects are an important part of a transportation agency's planning and budgeting process. Such cost estimates can be developed through a careful examination of historical bid data. A microcomputer data base of historical unit‐price bid data is used to develop a cost‐estimating procedure that incorporates the factors that most directly impact project cost. For a wide range of project categories, these factors appear to be the length of the project and the anticipated application rate of certain key materials.