تداخل زون و طراحی در پروژه های جاده

Traditionally, the zoning and design phases in road projects are separated. The choices made during zoning impacts on design, and the designers often want to change the zoning plans after they are formally approved. To improve both zoning and design, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA) has experimented with “interweaving zoning and design”. The purpose of this paper is to assess interweaving zoning and design, where the zoning and design is to be conducted as interweaving processes. Furthermore, it explores the benefits and challenges of interweaving zoning and design. At last, it assesses how this approach should be implemented in future projects. Following an initial literature study, three cases were studied, based on interviews and document studies. Case-specific semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven client representatives, one external consultant and one contractor‘s consultant. The NPRA has conducted interweaving zoning and design in only a few projects, even though there are some apparent advantages with this approach. The findings indicate that the benefits of such planning are both a better product through more holistic zoning plans and design, and a better planning process through potentially time and cost savings. Interweaving zoning and design is preferable in projects where the project is going to be implemented within a few years. Financing represents a minor challenge, as the designers enter at an earlier stage than usual. The paper concludes that interweaving zoning and design is possible, it has been carried out successfully and has some distinct advantages. If the project implementation date is undecided, detailed design can be redundant due to change of regulations, scope and the political situation. This paper documents experiences from cases where interweaving zoning and design has proved advantageous. This approach seems to have a potential that more road projects could have benefitted from.