Practical Highway Design Solutions

"There are many demands on state departments of transportation (DOTs), from simple maintenance of ever-expanding assets to addressing the increasing mobility and safety needs of all highway users. State DOTs are continuously striving to meet this challenge with limited financial resources. In doing so, some state transportation agencies have adopted design solutions for specific roadway projects at reduced costs, thereby allowing the agencies to address critical needs of the entire roadway system. For example, the Missouri DOT (MoDOT) has initiated a process--labeled Practical Design--that critically reviews projects to establish reduced-cost scope and roadway geometrics based on needs and not standards. They have stated that they want "fewer spots of perfection and more good projects that make a great system." The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) has approached this program from a somewhat different perspective through their Practical Solutions initiative, where the philosophy of building reduced-cost projects is emphasized using the existing condition as the baseline design and thus achieving a positive outcome with project improvements beyond the existing conditions. As documented in this report, a few other states have adopted similar programs, labeled variously as Practical Design, Practical Solutions, or Practical Improvements. Whatever label is given by the state, the adoption of this cost-saving initiative is increasing and gaining the attention of many other DOTs. The objective of this synthesis is to identify current knowledge and practice in the application of Practical Design (the default term used in the report) approaches in roadway project development"--Page 1.