Transportation Project Management

8 Managing Quality

“Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort.”

– John Ruskin

8.1 Defining Quality

“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.”

– Henry Ford

8.1.1 Overview

I was in a portfolio performance meeting once when someone wisely asked, “What is the point? We can push a lot of crappy projects out the door on-time and on-budget. But are we making good decisions?” This is the essence of why quality matters.

At its most basic level, the goal of most transportation projects is to design and build an improvement that increases safety and positively impacts commerce and the community. Ideally this means developing and delivering a fiscally responsible final product that serves its intended purpose and satisfies stakeholder expectations.

Meanwhile, the old adage remains true, “Good, Fast, and Cheap…pick any two.” Public transportation organizations should have a deeper perspective when answering this question as they typically own and maintain the asset. As such, life cycle costs should often be considered. Even on well-constructed projects, the long-term maintenance costs may be significant. Quality matters.

So how do you as the owner effectively ensure a quality product, especially in those circumstances where the construction contractor is selected by low-bid? The textbook answer is to create a set of approved plans and specifications that satisfies the project scope while being designed in accordance with all applicable standards ...