Methodology for Optimization of Road Works Schedule According to Local Climatic Data

Road works, either from public or from private sector, are designed and constructed according to specific requirements that are commonly governed by national regulations. In Greece, “Road Design Guidelines Manual” and “Greek Technical Specifications” of the Hellenic Organization for Standardization or, in some cases, European Norms, stand for the framework road works are implemented. The common practice for projects design, consists of usual addressing of schedule followed and periods of year that work is suspended. Financial and time requirements, following this framework, usually do not take into account prevailing weather behavior on each work site. A methodology to optimize this procedure, according to local climatic conditions, is presented in this paper. The improved schedule is finally conducted by considering, in addition to the common practice, special local climatic data, following a step by step scheme, comprehensively explained in this study. Usual practice dictated by Greek specifications on the road works field, is enlightened. Reduction of these valuable resources requirements is the main purpose of the proposed methodology. Accordingly, a holistic approach considering apart from common project time management techniques, climatic uniqueness of each work location as well, is the quintessence of this paper. Redistribution of working time-periods and re-arrangement of machinery equipment along with adequate personnel, based on climatic features of the location each road project takes place, is the crucial factor that boosts up productivity and releases resources that are unnecessarily assigned either to work or to be suspended in the frame of a typical timetable, main characteristic of which, is programming excluding winter months, as general rule. In this study, the frame, as for the schedule, considering the special climate features of each road project, is proposed accordingly.