Risk-Based Prioritization of Construction Inspection

In their pursuit of ensuring the quality and long-term performance of pavements, state highway agencies (SHAs) have established specifications for materials testing and construction inspection processes as critical components of their quality assurance programs. SHAs face a grand challenge, however, in the ever-growing gap between the demand for inspection and the available resources. Many strategies have been proposed over time to meet this challenge by optimizing the resource allocation process. A promising approach is to allocate limited resources to the most critical inspection items. This paper presents a novel risk-based prioritization approach for construction inspection considering quality, safety, cost, and time. Specifically, the risk is assessed in two aspects: the possibility of not meeting the specification requirements and the severity of the consequences. The scope of this study includes earthwork, concrete and asphalt pavement, and bridge decks. A comprehensive list of construction inspection items was compiled from the standard specifications and manuals of the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), and narrowed down to a core set based on survey responses and interviews with INDOT domain experts. The resulting core set was aligned with the construction process, and INDOT expert opinions were sought to assess the risks and prioritize the inspection checklist. The resulting prioritized list can help INDOT and other SHAs nationwide to optimize their allocation of resources for inspection. Since all the inspection items are aligned with the construction process, implementation is straightforward: field engineers know not only what to inspect but also when to do so.