AVLO: A Simplified Cost Analysis Approach for Estimating Construction Costs for Forest Roads *

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1 AVLO: A Simplified Cost Analysis Approach for Estimating Construction Costs for Forest Roads * Brandon S. O Neal 1, William A. Lakel III 2, W. Michael Aust 3 and Rien M. Visser 4 1 Graduate Research Assistant, 2 Instructor, 3 Professor and 4 Associate Professor Industrial Forest Operations, 228 Cheatham Hall 0324, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA oneal@vt.edu Abstract Forest roads are a major expense and forest land managers often have problems estimating maintenance, upgrade, and construction costs. In general, road cost estimations are based upon previous personal experiences, machine rate estimations, or acquisition of contractor bids. These techniques can provide acceptable results, but may require more local experience or data requirements than are available to some managers. Therefore, we have developed a relative simple spreadsheet style approach (AVLO) that itemizes the major costs for the common activities for road maintenance, upgrade and construction. Activities evaluated by our program include stream crossings, easements, location, clearing and grubbing, cut and fill slopes, ditching, a variety of water control structures, gravel, seeding, and closure. Cost estimates are based on actual construction costs and logger surveys and are expressed as ranges. The user must have some basic information about desired road standards, road templates, and local terrain. The program also allows the user to modify costs to fit regional costs. The package has been tested on two construction projects and has provided estimates within 5% of actual costs. To date, the approach has been presented to two major forest corporations and the USDA Forest Service and feedback has been positive. 1. INTRODUCTION Forest roads, ranging from permanent all-weather access to temporary harvest roads, provide access to forest stands for a variety of operations and management objectives. The standards used for each individual road will vary with landowner objectives, Best Management Practices recommendations, site conditions, and many other factors (Aust et al. 2005). The people responsible for road management must take these factors into consideration when looking at specific road standards such as the class or type of road, subgrade, width, ditches, surfacing, cut and fill slopes, gradient and curvature, stream crossings, seeding and closure, etc (Aust et al. 2005, Walbridge 1997). These may be applicable when building a new road, maintaining or upgrading an existing road, or closing out a road. Costs associated with managing and implementing proper road standards can have a dramatic affect on a harvesting operation because estimating road costs can often determine the feasibility/profitability of a timber purchase. Unfortunately, many foresters have problems estimating the costs of different road standards, partially due to the lack of published information that actually quantifies costs associated with various road and stream crossing construction activities (Aust et al. 2005, Aust et al. 2003, Aust and Shaffer 2001). In general, road cost * The 29 th Council on Forest Engineering Conference. Coeur d Alene, Idaho, July 30-August 2,. W. Chung and H.S. Han, editors. pp

2 estimations are based upon previous experience with costs in an area, estimated machine hours based on published sources, or obtaining contractor bids. Proper forest road location and construction is important not only to reduce costs, but also to maintain proper water quality (Garland 1987, Kochenderfer et al. 1984, Virginia Department of Forestry 1997, Walbridge 1997). Poorly located and constructed roads are a significant source of sediment from most forestry operations, and additional erosion control measures may be needed to prevent water quality degradation. Preventing erosion from poorly located and constructed roads cost money. Therefore, researchers from the Industrial Forestry Operations department at Virginia Tech have developed a spreadsheet style approach (AVLO) that itemizes the major costs for the common activities for road maintenance, upgrade and construction. AVLO provides a comprehensive method for capturing all associated components involved in determining road costs, as well as provides a range of values, that are typical for the Southeastern U.S., for each component. 2. SOURCE DATA AVLO costs were developed based on actual costs reported for road construction and maintenance (Aust and Shaffer 2001), stream crossing installations (Aust et al 2001, 2003), and from surveys of costs encountered by loggers (Shaffer et al. 1998). Additional costs were obtained through personal experiences of the researchers, costs reported by cooperative organizations, and contacts with businesses providing the services or materials associated with road construction and maintenance. This information was used to provide cost ranges for each component of the spreadsheet. Additionally, a default cost is provided for each component which represents an approximate average cost for that material or service that is common for the Southeastern U.S. 3. DISCUSSION AVLO is an Excel based costing system adapted from the itemized planning guide developed by Aust et al The user steps through a series of questions identifying the road construction, repair, or maintenance activities that are appropriate for the road under consideration. Average costs are provided for use when the cost of an activity is not known. In the same section, drop-down bars are provided for each activity with a range of costs for use when costs are known. Also, for activities where a quantity or lengths are applicable, spaces are provided for these numbers. Based on the costs and quantity/length of each activity, a total cost is calculated and provided for the user, thus providing a total cost for the road construction, repair, or activity. In addition to calculating total road cost, a section is available which contains length conversion tables (meter to feet, miles to feet, etc.) and a gravel weight calculator. The gravel weight calculator allows the user to input the dimension of the road and the weight of the gravel being used (a range of weights are provided) in lbs/cubic foot, and will provide the user with an answers in tons of gravel.

3 Future revisions to AVLO will include ongoing input of costs for various road building activities and expansion of any activities to include more detailed costing features. In addition, as new costing data is received revised AVLO costing spreadsheets will developed to represent different geographical regions of the U.S. such as the Eastern coastal plain, Appalachian region, and the Northwesten U.S. BMP sections will also be added to these spreadsheets to better aid the user. Overall, AVLO s most beneficial aspect is that it itemizes the majority of costs associated with road construction through a step-by-step method. This ensures the user that all possible activities involved with road construction, repair, or maintenance have been assessed. AVLO does not offer or try to calculate exact costs since they vary dramatically from region to region.

4 Timber Harvest Road Planning/Cost Estimation Form Landowner General Location County/State Date Forester 1. What is the current road situation? An adequate road exists stop No road exists proceed to part 2 Road exists, but needs upgrade/repair proceed to part 5 2. Plan for a new road (or section of road). Locate the desired road on topomap and attach map. Estimated length of road Traffic (comment on weight, quantity, and configuration) Width of Road Maximum desired grade of road Permanent or temporary Rock type & hardness expected (soil survey) 3. Are perennial stream crossings needed? Stream width? Traffic wt? How many of the following are needed? Type Length/Quantity Expected cost range/crossing Est. Cost Total Ford 0 $ /ford Reinforced ford 0 $ /ford Culvert (steel or plastic) 0 $ /culvert Portable skidder bridges 0 $ /bridge Stringer bridges 0 $ /bridge Other options New Construction Costs Easement costs 0 $? 0 0 Location & gradeline installation 0 $ /mile Clearing & grubbing 0 $ /mile Cut & Fill slopes 0 $ /mile Ditch construction 0 $ /mile Shape final surface grade 0 $ /mile Water control broad based dips 0 $25-50/dip 35 0 water turnouts 0 $10-50/turnout 30 0 culvert install & cost 0 $280 install + pipe 0 0 Seeding banks 0 $ /mile Tons of Gravel 0 $5-30/ton Upgrade-repair-maintenance-existing road Ditch improvement/repair 0 $ /mile Grade road 0 $ /mile Improve water control broad based dips 0 $25-50/dip 35 0 water turnouts 0 $10-50/turnout 30 0 culvert install & costs 0 $280 install + pipe 0 0 Seeding 0 $ /mile Tons of Gravel 0 $5-30/ton Closure costs water bars 0 $15-30/bar 23 0 disc & seed 0 $ /mile gates 0 $ /each other Other? TOTAL ESTIMATED COSTS 0

5 4. LITERATURE CITED Aust, W.M., and R.M. Shaffer Costs of Planning, Locating, and Constructing a Minimum-Standard Forest Road to Meet BMP Guidelines in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. Aust, W.M., J.M.R. Visser, T.V. Gallagher, and M. Poirot Forest Road Stream Crossings and Costs. P th Annual Council on Forest Engineering meeting, Snowshoe, WV, July 15-19, Aust, W.M., R. Visser, T. Gallagher, and T. Roberts Cost of Six Different Stream Crossing Options in the Appalachian Area. Southern Journal of Forestry. 27(1): 2003, Aust, W.M., R.M. Visser, and W.A. Lakel III Estimation of Road Costs Using an Itemized Planning Guide. FRA Technical Release: 05-R-23. Garland, J.J Planning Woodland Roads. National Woodlands. Nov/Dec:7-11. Kochenderfer, J.N., G.W. Wendel, and H.C. Smith Cost and Soil Loss on Minimum Standard Forest Truck Roads Constructed in the Central Appalachians. USDA For. Serv. NE For. Exp. Sta. Res. Pap. NE p. Shaffer, R.M., H.L. Haney, E.G. Worrell, W. M. Aust Forestry BMP implementation costs for Virginia. Forest Products Journal 48(9):27-29 Virginia Department of Forestry Forestry Best Management Practices for Water Quality in Virginia Technical Guide. VA Dept. Forestry, Charlottesville. 47p. Walbridge, Jr., T.A., The Location of Forest Roads. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blackburg, VA.