Comprehensive Evaluation of Influential Factors on Public Roadway Project Contract Time

Abstract

Contract time determination (CTD) is one of the most critical activities when developing a public roadway. There is no lack of policy documents, process manuals, and technical papers emphasizing its significance and impact on project performance and contractor behavior. However, little definitive information or systemic knowledge is available on the factors that affect a public roadway project’s contract time. Studies holistically examining CTD factors are scarce. To bridge this knowledge gap, this study first identified 42 factors from an extensive scan of the existing literature and CTD manuals and examined the factors using a two-stage nationwide survey. The survey results provide a comprehensive evaluation of CTD factors from multiple dimensions: frequency of occurrence, level of influence, proper timing of identification, and impact boundary (projectwide versus item-specific). This study also identified the top important CTD factors, such as traffic maintenance, production rates, environmental issues, project complexity, and utility issues. This research is significant because it is probably the first national study to assemble the scattered and incoherent information and knowledge across different regions and states on CTD factors and systematically organize and evaluate them. This study’s key results also carry high practical value for practitioners—another important group of readers of this journal.