Cost Data

Quantm Desktop software uses a series of cost models to estimate the overall construction costs for a generated alignment. The accuracy of these costs may be dictated by which stage in the planning process you are investigating. The principal tasks in planning, designing, and building a road or railway fall into a number of categories:

Preparatory tasks

• • Acquire and clear land

Earthworks

• • Excavate cuts

  • Haul usable (excavated) material to fill sites

  • Place and compact material in fills

  • Haul unusable and surplus material to dump sites

  • Haul additional material from borrow pits to make up for shortfalls

Supplementary works

• • Lay materials for sub-base

  • Lay pavement for roads or ballast for rail

Structures

• • Construct retaining walls

  • Construct bridges

  • Construct culverts on minor water courses

  • Construct tunnels

Additional tasks

• •  Paint road markings

  • Install roadside posts to delimit shoulders

  • Lay sleepers and rails for railways

  • If necessary stabilize or landscape embankments in cut or on fill

Fixed costs

• • Consultants fees

  • Traffic signals, Interchanges

All of these tasks have a direct impact on costs, and with the exception of fixed costs are affected by the alignment location during optimization. Some of these tasks and their associated costs will apply to the whole project and others will vary with the geographical area.

View or edit cost data

1. Click on Cost Parameters on the Edit tab. The Cost Parameters dialog appears.

2. View or edit the Cost settings. Costs are managed as four main data groups:

• Global costs

• Structural costs (Culvert, Bridge, Tunnel, and Wall tabs)

• Geotechnical costs (Material and Geology tabs)

• Other costs (Area, Linear, and Fixed tabs)

Next topic: Global Costs