Design-build transportation projects have dramatically increased in popularity over the past several years throughout the United States.  Significant cost savings have been realized on these fast tract design-build projects because of the shortened delivery schedules.  These cost savings have become an increasingly important issue to State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) experiencing increased construction material costs along with lower project construction budgets.  The concept of sustainability has also increased in popularity at a national, state and local level.  There is more demand by DOT’s and municipalities for the integration of environmental, public and economic sustainable components into their transportation projects.



Design-build projects are known to be both cost and time efficient in comparison to typical design-bid-build projects. Design-build is a fast paced project delivery method under which a project owner (DOT) executes a single contract for both design engineering services and construction. Design build projects are able to concurrently perform design and construction activities, which require close coordination between the environmental, design and construction engineers.



There is a misconception that adding sustainability elements into a design build project will add costs; quite the opposite, incorporating sustainable design elements has shown to be cost effective while being environmentally advantageous. There are several opportunities and conditions within the design build process to incorporate sustainability concepts:

1. Close coordination between environmental, design and construction engineers- this type of coordination and interaction is the key to a successful design-build project. This coordination provides the setting for the development and implementation of innovation and proactive sustainable actions.
2. Design flexibility and creativity-there are a lot of available options for design flexibility between the usually acquired 30% design to the final design.  Vertical and horizontal alignments can be modified to reduce project footprints, realize potential cost savings, improve engineering and avoid sensitive areas within the Project Area.
3. Reduce environmental impacts beyond NEPA requirements- coordination, cooperation and creativity among the Project Management Team to avoid and/or minimize environmental impacts is a very cost effective sustainable action.   Modifications to alignments, haul road configurations and staging area locations all need to be considered to reduce impacts and costs.
4. Design coordination with affected neighborhood- communication and involvement with the local neighborhood and municipality can lead to improved project acceptance and promotes a Context Sensitive Solutions approach endorsed by FHWA and many DOTs. Local community outreach and education can be accomplished via periodic public meetings in addition to web-sites, newsletters, newspaper articles and radio or television coverage.

There are challenges for incorporating sustainability into design build projects that are based upon the Prime Contractor’s attitude and level of understanding and acceptance to a new way of managing, designing and constructing transportation systems.

1. Prime Contractor constraints- on design build projects the Prime Contractor is very concerned about managing project costs and maintaining or exceeding schedule expectations and many times does not see the larger cost effective picture that sustainability can provide a project.  Prime contractors need to have a better understanding and vision of sustainable actions to be competitive in the future design build market.
2. Frequent permit modifications- as design build projects are fast paced and dynamic. It is very likely that during the project design phase impacted areas requiring permits will increase, decrease or change in location.  It is important that early and frequent coordination meetings with the regulatory agencies occur to streamline the permit modification process.  This action will save the project significant financial costs that can result from schedule delays waiting for permit modification approvals.
3. Subcontractors and contract language- if a design build project decides to incorporate sustainable elements either by client request or by the Prime Contractor’s own internal strategic decision, sustainability coordination must occur very early in the process. Specific sustainable actions must be identified and detailed early, as part of the subcontractors’ contracting process such as requiring metal recycling, waste separation, reduced landfilling, reuse of concrete or asphalt, a fuel conservation-idling reduction plan, pollution prevention actions, etc.   

Contractors need to change their past way of doing business and develop their own internal sustainability programs in anticipation of more sustainability requirements in bid packages. Many states are in the process of developing internal sustainability programs that require transportation designs to incorporate specific sustainable actions. Some states and municipalities are requiring contractors to develop and implement project specific sustainability plans.  To be competitive and save costs, Prime Contractors now need to take a much broader look at design build projects and other types of construction projects.  They must now better integrate environmental, community and long term economics into their project strategy.