Flash Tracking for Accelerated Bridge Construction

The Construction Industry Institute (CII) has funded Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech to develop best practices for the successful implementation of Flash Tracking (Faster fast Track). Flash Track is defined by this research as a time-driven project which by necessity requires a heightened degree of concurrency between engineering, procurement, and construction. The research, which began in May 2013, has developed a two-tiered structure of 47 practices essential to flash tracking; these practices place the greatest emphasis on planning, execution, and organizational considerations, followed by cultural issues, delivery methods, and contractual considerations. A “Flash Track Readiness Metric” is also developed to assess the extent to which a project is ready, or not, to be undertaken on a flash track basis. To help companies with the implementation of flash track concepts, an implementation resource (IR) toolkit has been developed and integrated with the readiness metric. The IR introduces innovative implementation strategies for each of the 47 practices, and includes barriers to implementation, identification of heightened risks, and risk mitigating strategies. These elements are integrated with the readiness metric to provide further assistance in eliminating identified weaknesses with flash tracking.

The outcome of this study is based on extensive research on project acceleration practices in U.S. and international construction as well as other industries outside construction, including manufacturing, ship-building and software development. The methodology employed in this research entailed deployment of a 3-round Delphi process as well as the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to produce a comprehensive and robust prioritization of essential flash track practices and implementation recommendations. With the outcomes from the Delphi and AHP studies, a “Flash Track Readiness Metric” is developed to assess the extent to which a project is ready, or not, to be undertaken on a flash track basis.