INFLUENCE OF NIGHTTIME OPERATIONS ON CONSTRUCTION COST AND PRODUCTIVITY

There has been a shift in emphasis from building new facilities to rehabilitation of highways in the United States. However, with traffic levels approaching or exceeding highway capacities, any maintenance work on highways disrupts traffic, often resulting in severe congestion, delays, and accidents. As a result, various highway agencies are shifting toward nighttime construction and maintenance when traffic densities are relatively low. The decision to work at night, however, involves a number of complex issues. Some factors involved in such decision making were identified in a research study conducted for the Florida Department of Transportation. The effects of nighttime construction on construction cost and productivity are evaluated in this paper. Comparisons are made for daytime and nighttime highway projects in Florida. Unit cost comparisons do not suggest any trend in the cost differential of individual items; however total program cost is found to be less for work at night as compared with work during the day. The results do not confirm any significant difference between the productivity values for daytime and nighttime projects.