DESIGN PHASE CONSTRUCTABILITY CONCEPTS FOR HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION

ABSTRACT: Most highway construction projects are characterized by traffic problems, a substantial number of changes, poor planning, disputes, cost overruns, poor safety practices and time delays. An effective constructability review at the design stage has the potential to incorporate into design best practices and lessons learned from previous projects, thereby improving the project constructability. Several studies have indicated that constructability is not being implemented to its full potential in highway construction projects. This study tries to explore the level of constructability implementation in highway projects in the Malaysian construction industry. The degree of importance and application of constructability concepts were investigated. The results show that a total of eighteen design phase constructability concepts have been regarded as important by participants of the construction industry. Despite its importance the level of application of several constructability concepts are found to be not encouraging. The findings of this study formed a basis for the development of design review guidelines for improving constructability of future highway projects in this country