Answer: Everything but asphalt and concrete work. That’s why weather forecasts keep project managers up at night. The possibility of rain means paving plans turn on a dime. As the saying goes “success favors the prepared” and project managers (PM) are nothing if not prepared. They plan for transportation projects months and often years in advance, doing everything from traffic modeling, environmental analysis and geotech pavement planning, to multiple quality control design critiques and public outreach regarding construction impacts. And that’s just scratching the surface.
PM’s use detailed schedules to keep all the many details on track – take a look at this example (it’s so detailed it’s hard to see!):
The schedule must be adhered to in order to meet the scope, schedule and budget. Luckily, even if there’s bad weather on the horizon, there’s just about ALWAYS something a crew can be immediately re-assigned to do to keep the project on schedule. So, when it rains, the PM will consult the contingency plans included in each schedule and keep the crews and the project movin’.