Demonstrating Innovation by Doing More for Less

Crawford, Murphy & Tilly (CMT) was selected by INDOT and the City of Greenwood to develop plan documents to support a new access interchange at Worthsville Road along Interstate 65. CMT successfully met INDOT’s challenge of completing the effort within a tight 18-month schedule, and providing solutions that ultimately resulted in saving of $4.3 million on the $22 million project.

Given the pressure transportation agencies are under to do more with less, our designers are always striving to deliver value by finding economical solutions. For the Worthsville project, we evaluated the original scoped design and developed 11 alternatives that were presented at the beginning of the project. CMT then came to INDOT with a totally new concept. The Diverging Diamond Interchange, the first new access interchange of its type to be constructed in Indiana, was not only the most appropriate interchange in terms of maximizing traffic capacity and minimizing environmental impacts, but also from a cost standpoint, saving nearly $2.5M in construction costs. After the preferred alternative was identified, CMT began applying practical design philosophies where appropriate and allowable to continue reducing project costs. Hydraulics, geometrics, maintenance of traffic, and project limits were all reviewed for cost reduction opportunities, and over a dozen practical design proposals were implemented, at a savings of almost 20 percent.

This project also served as an early demonstration of what would become INDOT’s Open Roads method for value-based engineering, and the New Paradigm for Utility Coordination, a cost-saving method emphasizing early coordination that CMT developed and introduced in the state.