FHWA Releases Second Round of Every Day Counts Initiative

In a conference call with state Departments of Transportation today, Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez announced the 15 priorities that will be pursued by FHWA as round two of its Every Day Counts Initiative (EDC). Seven of these priorities are continuations from the original EDC initiative which was started two years ago. The core focus of EDC is shortening project delivery. Therefore, all of the initiatives –with the exception of the two safety initiatives – have time saving as a significant characteristic. The new initiatives are clustered into four broad categories according to the primary benefits anticipated when implemented as follows: Project Delivery: Reduce Project Delivery Time: Planning and Environmental Linkages (Continuation), Programmatic Agreements with on emphasis on Corps of Engineers and Fish and Wildlife Service (Continuation), GIS Data-Sharing for Planning Purposes (New). Reduce Construction Time: Design-Build (Continuation), Construction Manager General Contractor (Continuation), Alternative Technical Concepts (New), Flexibilities in ROW (Continuation), 3D Modeling for Construction Means and Methods- Automated Machine Guidance (New), Inteklligent Compaction (New), Accelerated Bridge Construction (Continuation). Safety: Epoxy Overlay Systems to Increase or Restore Pavement Friction (New), Intersection and Interchange Geometrics (New). Environment: In lieu Fee and Mitigation banking (Continuation), Level of NEPA Documentation and Quality (New). Mobility: First Responder Training Click here to read the details of the new EDC initiative. FHWA announced that it will be holding a series of eight EDC summits this fall and will encourage participation by construction industry groups. The fall summits will emphasize the project delivery initiatives. FHWA reported that its emphasis on the use of Design-Build has resulted in 27 states now using this contracting method and 19 states have now used Construction Manager General Contractor (CMGC). These fall summits will also emphasize the new project acceleration provisions in the new MAP-21 transportation authorization legislation. AGC members and chapters took part in the EDC summits two years ago and will participate in these new summits as well.