A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF PROJECT DELIVERY METHODS USED ON PUBLIC HIGHWAY-RAIL INTERSECTION PROJECTS IN NEW YORK STATE

Abstract

The improvement of infrastructure by a public agency is to ensure satisfaction of the general public using such infrastructure, based on available funds. In order to implement and sustain the public good, an efficient project delivery method or the assessment of existing project delivery methods used to develop such infrastructure is necessary. Project delivery method is a process that defines the relationship between parties involved in a specific project. Any of the methods could affect a project budget, schedule, quality and the involvement of the project owner. This study investigated the impact of project delivery methods used by different type/class of railroad organization, which include passenger and freight railroad organizations on completed public highway-rail intersection projects in New York State, within a period of 10 years. Two hundred and fifty six (256) projects with similar scope, which were performed at independent locations, were selected. The research questions were answered based on hypotheses, which were tested with non parametric test using SPSS Statistical package version 20. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine the statistical significant difference between the total cost of Highway-Rail Intersection projects when Design-Build and Design-Bid-Build methods were used by railroad companies. The Kruskall Wallis test was used to determine the statistically significant difference between the total cost of projects performed by Passenger, Class 1 (Large), Class 2 (Regional) and Class 3 (Short-Line railroads) railroad companies operating in New York State, and a post-hoc test depicts the significant differences between the railroad organizations that differ. Findings indicated that there were statistical significant differences in total costs for project delivery methods as well as types/class of railroad organizations. It was recommended that the New York State Department of Transportation should partner with the railroad organizations for share cost agreement, develop short or long term plans to either close railroad grade crossings or grade separate crossings along railroad corridors so that passenger and Class 1 railroad organizations can significantly contribute to HRI improvements. Furthermore, NYSDOT need to adequately monitor HRI projects performed by the railroad organizations.