Long-Term Performance Benefits of the Design-Build Delivery Method Applied to Road Pavement Projects in the U.S.

The use of alternative project delivery methods has grown significantly over the last two decades. One such method is design-build (DB), which has been increasingly used due to its improved project cost and schedule performance. However, the project itself is only a fraction of the lifecycle of a built facility. Therefore, there is a need to understand whether delivery methods also impact the long-term performance of facilities. This paper focuses on quantifying the long-term performance impact of DB on pavements, compared to pavements delivered using the traditional design-bid-build (DBB) method. The international roughness index is selected as the metric to compare ride quality across projects. In total, the authors collected 9,946 data points representing 37 unique lane directions from 26 projects in six states, which they analyzed using linear mixed-effects methods. Results show that long-term performance of asphalt concrete pavement resurfacing DB projects is superior to that of comparable DBB projects by an equivalent of eight years of pavement life. A life cycle cost analysis shows the estimated monetary impact of these findings on the National Highway System is around $100 billion over the next 45 years.