The major contributors to the total cost and duration of highway projects are utility relocation, right-of-way (ROW) acquisition, and construction. This paper discusses the volatility of the cost of the two latter phases and suggests alternative cost estimation tools and methods based on Texas databases. It describes three related but distinct studies. The first study discussed relies on regression models to estimate the construction costs of key roadway infrastructure. The second applies county-level appraisals and other databases to estimate the cost of ROW acquisition for the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) project. The third investigates the legal aspects of ROW acquisition and compares relevant statutes across the U.S. states, relative to their condemnation rates. Based on these comparisons, this paper offers recommendations that are expected to lower condemnation rates as well as the cost and duration of the ROW acquisition process. The work addresses significant gaps in the existing literature and should prove valuable to construction professionals/managers, transportation planners, developers, appraisers, and those involved in highway project cost estimation, as well as ROW acquisition

This report reviews the literature related to Right-of-Way (ROW) acquisition, and highlights the findings of expert interviews. Hedonic price models were proposed using recent acquisition data from several Texas corridors and separate databases of full-parcel commercial sales transactions for Texas' largest regions. For the latter, the method of feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) was employed to correct the standard error terms for heteroskedasticity. The models presented here add considerably to the literature and research in this area and should prove valuable to ROW professionals, transportation planners, developers, appraisers, and others involved in ROW cost estimation and commercial property valuation.

'TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 574: Guidance for Cost Estimation and Management for Highway Projects During Planning, Programming, and Preconstruction explores approaches to cost estimation and management designed to overcome the root causes of cost escalation and to support the development of consistent and accurate project estimates through all phases of the development process, from long-range planning, through priority programming, and through project design. NCHRP Web-Only Document 98 details the steps followed by the research team in the development of NCHRP Report 574"--Publisher's description.

This procedures guide presents practical and effective approaches for developing right-of-way (ROW) cost estimates and for then tracking and managing ROW cost during all phases of project development, including planning, programming, and preliminary and final design. It is a resource for managers, practitioners, and decision makers interested in developing and managing realistic and accurate estimates of ROW cost from the earliest ROW cost estimate made during planning through to the management of ROW acquisition cost during final design.

The costs of acquiring parcels by condemnation are usually significantly higher than those for property acquired by negotiation, suggesting that Right-of-Way (R/W) acquisition costs may best be described by two different regression equations. This paper develops a switching regression model of acquisition cost to simultaneously predict the probability of whether a parcel will go to condemnation rather than be acquired via negotiation and the corresponding acquisition costs under these two regimes. The error terms of the selection equation and the two cost equations follow a trivariate normal distribution to reflect correlations across unobserved factors (such as a land owner's tenacity or a site's view value). When this model is calibrated using data on properties acquired across the state of Texas for transportation projects between 2008 and 2011, results suggest that R/W appraisers and staff should pay special attention to commercially used parcels in urban areas involving a partial taking with a relatively small remainder. Comparison of cost estimates between the two regimes (condemnation vs. negotiation) suggests that condemned parcels will have, on average, 78% higher acquisition costs across the 1,710 acquired properties and 51% greater price variation. These results suggest that it is much more costly to acquire a property and more difficult to accurately predict its costs if it cannot be acquired via negotiation. The application of model estimates to an example corridor highlights the value of simulation to capture all modeling uncertainties. This two-regime model is further extended to a three-category multinomial endogenous switching, allowing for differential cost estimates across negotiation-deed, administrative settlement, and condemnation contexts. A model of acquisition time -- from the agency's initial-offer date to its final possession date is also developed, to examine the effects of condemnation on acquisition duration. The results suggest that condemnation proceedings add approximately 7 to 8 months, on average, to parcel acquisitions by the Texas Department of Transportation. Taken together, such switching models for condemnation versus negotiated settlement highlight the benefits of avoiding condemnation proceedings in R/W acquisition. Estimation results illuminate the relative importance of various parcel and owner attributes, impacting the nature and cost of acquisition, and enhancing opportunities for R/W staff to identify more contentious properties and establish more reliable budget estimates.

This procedures guide presents practical and effective approaches for developing right-of-way (ROW) cost estimates and for then tracking and managing ROW cost during all phases of project development, including planning, programming, and preliminary and final design. It is a resource for managers, practitioners, and decision makers interested in developing and managing realistic and accurate estimates of ROW cost from the earliest ROW cost estimate made during planning through to the management of ROW acquisition cost during final design.