Development of a Tool for Utility Conflict Data Management in the Project Development Process

A critical process for the timely development and delivery of highway construction projects is the early identification and depiction of utility interests that may interfere with proposed highway facilities. The effective management of such utility interests or conflicts involves utility adjustment (or design changes), inspection, and documentation. The large number of stakeholders and the magnitude of the process result in enormous amounts of data. Despite substantial data exchange among utility accommodation stakeholders, few standards exist for exchange and management of utility data in the project development process. With sample data provided by the Texas Department of Transportation, research described in this paper addresses the issue of utility conflict management by analyzing specific utility conflict data flows and data needs of stakeholders. The paper presents the product of this analysis, which is a prototype system for managing utility conflict data called the Utility Accommodation and Conflict Tracker.