NEW! The Construction
and Materials Support
Center
 he new Construction and Materials Support Center
(CMSC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will help local, state
and federal departments of transportation find timely solutions to study
construction management and materials problems, study construction and
materials issues, and provide tools that help them rapidly implement
new and relevant technologies.
Funded by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation
(DOT), the center is a partnership between UW-Madison researchers and
the DOT. It fills a need for collaborative research in the area of construction
engineering and management, says Professor Awad
Hanna, CMSC Director.
“The mission of the CMSC includes construction
management services, research implementation activities, quality management,
new product methods evaluation, innovative contracting and funding methods
or materials, and advanced testing and evaluation,” says Hanna.
Don Miller, director of the Bureau of Project Development
for WisDOT, will help the center coordinate its activities with the
DOT. “The center provides an exciting opportunity for the university
and DOT to share ideas and find solutions to problems facing transportation
project development today,” he says. “It will use the expertise
of university faculty to support WisDOT staff in implementing important
new technologies to increase efficiencies and raise the quality of highway
construction.”
Former Wisconsin DOT administrator Gary C. Whited
will manage the CMSC. From his positions as director of the WisDOT Bureau
of Highway Construction and state materials engineer, he brings extensive
construction and materials engineering experience to the center. His
most recent experience was providing project oversight for the Marquette
Interchange reconstruction project in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He says
the CMSC will involve faculty from a variety of disciplines and students
both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. “One of our missions
is to use the center as a teaching opportunity, as well as to provide
rapid response to specific WisDOT problem and study needs,” he
says.
Some of the center’s activities will include
developing tools and techniques to enhance project cost-control and
minimize scheduling delays in project construction, identifying methods
and processes to accelerate construction activities, creating strategies
for WisDOT to implement new techniques and technologies, developing
tools for maintaining integrity in the bidding process, and assessing
new construction materials or project specifications.
While it mainly is a Wisconsin initiative, the group
would like to expand the scope of the CMSC. “We hope to provide
services to any local, state or federal agency dealing with all phases
of transportation project development, including construction engineering
and management,” says Hanna.
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