WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) launched a "Project of the Week" section in the AASHTO Journal to highlight excellent state transportation department projects that are completed on time, under budget, and/or using innovative management.

ASSHTO’s decision to feature a great state project each week was prompted by the success of the national competition it sponsored during the last four years with AAA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — the America's Transportation Awards. That contest has highlighted 177 exceptional projects from 47 states and the District of Columbia. (The America's Transportation Awards program for 2012 will be launched in March.)

The four national Grand Prize winners in this competition demonstrate how states are delivering highway and bridge projects that are producing phenomenal benefits to taxpayers including reduced traffic congestion, quicker travel times, improved safety, and smoother rides.

• 2011 Winner: I-10/I-95 Interchange "The Big I" in Jacksonville (Florida DOT) — The Big I" Interchange was originally built in the 1950s and desperately needed upgrading. Florida DOT tackled the massive project to reconstruct the interchange, which consists of 17 bridges, 21 ramps, and 25 lane miles built over and around traffic moving through one of the busiest interchanges in the state. The project finished six months ahead of schedule, which saved taxpayers' dollars and countless commuting headaches.

• 2010 Winner: Interstate 64 Replacement in St. Louis (Missouri DOT) — I-64 was the oldest highway in St. Louis. Over time, the highway and its 30 bridges had become so deteriorated that they had to be replaced. Limited funds, limited space, and a need to complete the project quickly complicated the plan for how to rebuild it. In December 2009, I-64 reopened to traffic nearly one month early and $11 million under budget after a total closure to expedite construction. Now more than 150,000 vehicles use the interstate each day. A survey taken at the end of the project found that 95% of the public was satisfied with the decision to close down the interstate to make it possible to replace it quickly.

• 2009 Winner: Woodrow Wilson Bridge over the Potomac River (Maryland & Virginia DOTs) — Ten years ago, the Woodrow Wilson Bridge connecting Maryland and Virginia on Interstate 95 just south of the nation's capital was one of the worst bottlenecks in the country. Thousands of commuters were stuck in traffic every day because the bridge, built in the 1960s to carry 75,000 vehicles a day, was carrying more than 200,000 vehicles a day. The Maryland and Virginia DOTs joined forces to expand the bridge from six to 12 lanes using $1.5 billion in federal assistance. Bridge construction was completed on time and on budget. The new span saves drivers and truckers an estimated 40 minutes each day during peak hours.

• 2008 Winner: Interstate 35 West Bridge in Minneapolis (Minnesota DOT) — In August 2007, the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River collapsed during rush hour, killing 13 travelers and injuring 144. The bridge had carried 140,000 vehicles daily. Four days after the collapse, the Minnesota DOT launched its reconstruction effort. The new $234 million bridge has five lanes of traffic in each direction and room to accommodate a future light-rail line. It was completed nearly three months ahead of schedule and opened to traffic just 13 months from the day of the collapse.

AASHTO has posted additional project profiles on its website (http://projectprofiles.transportation.org) for the past several months, highlighting successfully completed improvements to the nation's highways, bridges, and transit systems.

State legislators and the press question from time to time those transportation projects that come in behind schedule or over budget. Few public agencies hit their target 100 percent of the time, but the massive number of transportation improvements completed each year show that state DOTs exceed their project goals slightly more often than they miss them.

State DOTs follow a systematic process to develop sound estimates of what highway projects should cost and how long construction should take through the preparation of detailed plans, field surveys, and calculations of the time and materials needed. Once bids are received, a contractor is selected and the project gets underway.

There are many legitimate reasons why projects sometimes overrun their original time and cost estimates. After a project gets started, contractors might run into unexpected conditions in the field and communities might request that additional project features be added — all of which add time and cost as a project is constructed. Inflation is often a contributing factor. The last decade includes a period of huge volatility in highway construction materials costs.

Due to the tremendous expansion of China's highway program and high petroleum prices caused by instability in the Middle East, prices for commodities such as steel, asphalt, and cement have recently increased up to 80 percent in a single year. This volatility was so huge that AASHTO had numerous meetings with the Federal Highway Administration, contractors, engineers, and suppliers because contracts could not be delivered anywhere near the prices that were originally bid.

A research study AASHTO conducted under the National Cooperative Highway Research Program in 2011 identified five states that have achieved remarkable success in delivering projects on time and on budget. For example, Georgia was able to complete 85 percent of its projects on budget, Texas 84 percent, and California 78 percent. Iowa was able to complete 88 percent of its projects on time, Georgia 85 percent, and Arkansas 82 percent.

The research also demonstrated the challenge of delivering projects on time and on budget nationwide. Looking at projects built in 39 states during the last decade, the study determined that the national average for projects completed on budget was 47 percent. If a 10-percent contingency was added to original bid award amounts, states' average performance rose to 80 percent on budget. The national average for projects completed on time was 55 percent. The primary objectives of the research were to identify states that had achieved high levels of performance, and then share their best practices. A key factor in the states that did the best was giving state DOT field staff flexibility to find project solutions that can keep construction on schedule and on budget. AASHTO will continue to share best practices among state DOTs to help them achieve higher levels of performance.

The new "Project of the Week" feature will provide abundant evidence of the tremendous levels of achievement being attained by states in every region of the country, AASHTO said.