Use of Conceptual Road User Costs for a Rapid Roadway Construction Decision Making System

This paper outlines a decision making system for the use of rapid roadway construction methods using conceptual road user costs (RUC). The research developed a series of RUC tables that reflect different socioeconomic conditions by varying the value of time based on average hourly per capita income and wages for different counties in Kentucky. The RUC tables are established to address different types of highway projects (four-lane, six-lane), various topographical conditions (level, rolling and mountain) and construction schedule (daytime, night and overtime). Determining RUC by this method simplifies the method of calculating RUC by using fewer variables that would typically be available during the preliminary and conceptual design stage. The project’s intent of determining conceptual road user costs is to support a decision making process to identify the need and type of rapid construction method for a particular project A specific decision making process is proposed, which uses the ratios of the Calculated Road User Cost (CRUC) to the Maximum Allowable Road User Cost (MARC) followed by a set of additional criteria based on project scope to recommend a selection of rapid construction methods for a given highway project.