Research On Applying LCC To Design Stage Of ZC Expressway

Under the global financial crisis, China has put forward a series of proactive fiscal policies for defending against the adverse impact of the international economic environment and stimulating domestic demand. For example, transportation construction is to receive an amount of RMB 1 trn investment. A large amount of investment is to be injected into the construction of expressways as "expressway" is a symbol of fast and convenient transportation. Due to the high cost and long construction period of expressway projects, the amount of investment is usually subject to changes during the whole process of design, construction, and operation. Cost control during the design stage plays an important role in reducing construction cost and improving investment efficiency. Effective control of project cost during the design stage plays a fundamental role in minimizing the whole cost. Therefore, how to effectively control the cost during the design stage has become an urgent issue.At present, cost control of expressway design mainly focuses on the control of cost during the construction period. This practice, however, contravenes the notion of "building green and harmonious expressways", that is, it ignores the potential cost for the operation of expressways, especially the cost users and the environment have to pay.As the key project of Guangdong Province, ZC Expressway is a typical case of expressway construction in both scale and operation process, minimizing the cost of which during the whole process will serve as an important example for the whole society.On the basis of the existing theoretical framework and engineering practices and by taking ZC Expressway project as the research object, this paper intends to analyze the defects of the common cost control measures adopted in China during the design stage of projects, and applies the life-cycle cost (LCC) approach to effectively control the cost of project during the design stage. Detailed computation is made regarding each item of cost during the whole length of the expressway construction by using the LCC theory and relevant computation theories. The study reveals that the application of LCC analysis for the design stage is of great value to the long-term economic benefit through the whole process of projects including the construction, operation, maintenance, use, and abandonment.