Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Bridges and Tunnels: Capital Project Planning and Cost Estimation

Metropolitan Transportation Authority Bridges and Tunnels (B&T) operates seven bridges and two traffic tunnels in New York City. We examined selected aspects of B&T’s capital program. We found that B&T’s final cost estimates for its capital projects could be more accurate and the number of change orders on the projects could be reduced if certain improvements were made. For example, we found that B&T underestimated the cost of many capital projects by 10 percent or more. B&T’s overall project costing was not significantly affected by the inaccurate estimates, because the underestimated amounts were largely offset by overestimated amounts. However, B&T might not always be as fortunate in the future, so we recommended that B&T develop a plan for improving the accuracy of its final cost estimates. We also identified several change orders that could have been avoid if better planning practices had been used.

For a complete copy of Report 2003-S-58 click here.
For a copy of the 90-day response click here.
For a copy of the associated follow-up report click here.