School of Building Construction Assistant Professor Dr. Javier Irizarry was recently awarded $352,657 from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) to evaluate data requirements for computerized constructability analysis of pavement rehabilitation projects. Dr. Daniel Castro, Associate Professor and Interim Chair of the School of Building Construction, will serve as co-PI on the research project.

The 2-year project will review data collection practices at GDOT and determine needed changes to satisfy the Constructability Analysis for Pavement Rehabilitation (CA4PRS) software data needs, as well as propose these changes to current GDOT operating procedures.  This project has several specific objectives: 1) To identify detailed data requirements for a CA4PRS-based analysis and the challenges for acquiring the needed data; 2) To propose a CA4PRS Rehabilitation Alternative Analysis Manual for GDOT, including detailed data collection guidelines; 3) To perform comprehensive and statistically sound data collection on one ongoing GDOT pavement rehabilitation project; and 4) To evaluate the performance of CA4PRS for analysis of GDOT projects using data collected from an ongoing project. The proposed research will benefit GDOT Engineering and Construction Division personnel by providing guidelines for the collection of data required for an adequate CA4PRS-based rehabilitation alternatives analysis. GDOT personnel will be then able to perform a wide range of analysis, such as evaluation of alternative contracting methods on critical projects where incentives and disincentives are considered, evaluation of contractors’ work plans on major projects, evaluation of the impact of rapid construction strategies, the effect of alternative construction windows among others. In addition, with impending requirements from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for Traffic Management Plans (TMPs), the use of CA4PRS will allow GDOT to be proactive and prepared to develop and evaluate adequate TMPs that will meet all FHWA requirements.

 Dr. Irizarry joined the School of Building Construction in 2008 and is the Director of the CONECTech Lab at Georgia Institute of Technology. He specializes in Mobile Computing in Construction, Human Factors, Construction Safety, and IT Applications in AEC Education and practice. He teaches graduate-level courses in Virtual Construction Operations Analysis and Sustainable Construction Technologies and serves as the Graduate Coordinator for the Residential Construction Development Track in the master’s program in the School of Building Construction at Georgia Tech.