FHWA Announces Every Day Counts Initiative

Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez has released his "Every Day Counts" initiative that identifies steps that can be undertaken to shorten the amount of time it typically takes to deliver highway construction projects from conception to completion. The steps include improvements in the planning, permitting and construction phases as well as technology deployment to decrease project delivery time. FHWA has scheduled a series of 10 summits around the country for October to garner the support of the DOTs and construction industry for this initiative. In a conference call with AGC chapters and leadership last week, FHWA asked for support. In a related initiative, the AASHTO-AGC-ARTBA Joint Committee established a task force at the August 2009 meeting to develop recommendations for accelerating project delivery and at the August 2010 meeting finalized those recommendations. These are expected to become part of the overall "Every Day Counts" effort.