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Document Type

Thesis - University Access Only

Award Date

2013

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department / School

Civil and Environmental Engineering

First Advisor

Nadim Wehbe

Abstract

A study was conducted to investigate the implementation of accelerated bridge construction (ABC) in South Dakota. Accelerated bridge construction is defined as construction practices that employ innovative techniques to reduce on-site construction time and interruption to traffic. Less interruption to traffic also lowers agency costs associated with traffic control and road user costs from delays and detours. The main objective of this study was to implement a systematic method for evaluating ABC techniques to determine their applicability to bridge construction and rehabilitation projects in South Dakota from a cost effectiveness standpoint. A comprehensive literature review was conducted in order to develop a catalog of ABC techniques, as well as detailed profiles describing the use of these techniques. These tools were used in conjunction with the ABC evaluation tool to help the decision-making process for any given construction project. Currently, SDDOT needs to determine whether ABC techniques will provide a more efficient use of construction funds than conventional bridge construction methods. Therefore, this research was geared toward developing both the knowledge base and the tool to evaluate if implementation of ABC techniques is beneficial to a particular project scenario based on South Dakota local cost and experience data. Many other state DOT offices currently have evaluation tools for ABC and some were used as references when designing the tool for SDDOT. Various types of program inputs, as well as output information were used in conjunction with decision-making flow charts to formulate the process that recommends whether or not to use ABC on a given bridge construction project. Examples for using the developed tool were also included in this study to illustrate the use of the evaluation tool for ABC decision making in South Dakota.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Bridges--South Dakota
Prefabricated bridges

Description

Includes bibliographical references (pages 68-69).

Format

application/pdf

Number of Pages

154

Publisher

South Dakota State University

Rights

In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-NC/1.0/

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