Research On The Quality Management Of The Beijing-Shijiazhuang Expressway Expansion Project

Although China’s highway system construction only started in the 1980 s, its swift development and astonishing scale has attracted global attention and made a great contribution to China’s economic growth. It is difficult to make accurate estimates of traffic load during highway construction due to the complex dynamics between transportation system and socio-economic development. This challenge is further escalated by the lack of relevant knowledge, technical standard, and assessment mechanism. Consequently, multiple sections of China’s highway system today are suffering from traffic related problems. The actual traffic load of many major highways has greatly surpassed their original designs, which leads to noticeable traffic congestions and accidents. The development of the automobile industry has altered vehicle structures and axial load designs. Many highways have reached or passed their design lives; yet they are still in service due to the lack of maintenance funding. The gradual increase of traffic accidents has significantly influenced the highway system’s traffic competence, which in turn constrained traffic efficiency and national economic development. In response to the increasingly congested traffic nets in East and Central China as well as the fact that socio-economic development requires better high-speed traffic system, the existing traffic system in China must be renovated while we keep the current scale and speed of highway construction. As such,examining issues surrounding highway renovation becomes a necessary research subject.The renovation of Shen-Da Highway back in 2002 marked a new stage of China’s highway system development: in contrast to the old emphasis on new project development, the main focus now can be regarded as a combination of new project development and old project renovation. The existing highway system’s reconstruction and expansion, in this regard, would be a focal point in the foreseeable future. Although the quality of highway construction in China has witnessed significant improvement over the past years, its overall quality is still considerably below the average of developed countries. In particular, the emphasis on speed and quantity remains a great challenge for projects’ quality and the current assessment mechanism of project quality does not fit the requirements of future highway development, which may lead to security risks. Therefore, it is worthwhile to study the current assessment mechanism of highway renovation.Through a case study of Jing-Shi Highway renovation project, this thesis systemically analyzes the current status of highway construction assessment. Thethesis begins with an overview of the research context and related literature. Then,based on the analysis of the Jing-Shi Highway renovation project’s assessment plan and its actual execution results, the thesis evaluates the project’s quality management system. To be specific, the thesis addresses the following aspects of the quality management system: quality control principles, impact factors of quality control,quality control and management during project execution, specific quality control measurements, quality assessment methods, and preventative strategies for potential defects. The analyses outline the contour of the project’s quality management system,which leads to the final evaluations of its pros and cons and related policy recommendations. As such, this thesis not only provides scientific evidence for the quality control of the Jing-Shi Highway renovation project, but also offers meaningful implications for other highway renovations in China.