Start Date
23-4-2026 12:00 AM
Description
The given client is the regional office of a state department of a transportation agency that oversees five counties within the state. The regional office has provided information pertaining to areas such as financials, car accidents, and contractors which will be used to explore a variety of data trends and insights. The goal of the data exploration is to determine if there are other ways in which money can be reallocated to create an optimized spending plan for future projects. Actual award cost versus estimated award cost, contractor versus timeliness of projects, and type of job versus employers in a county are just a few examples of tests that will be run to explore data. The R and Python programming languages along with Microsoft Excel will be used for the duration of the project.
Research Highlights
-
The Problem: Regional transportation officials required an analysis of contractor reliability and the accuracy of project cost estimations across six overseen counties.
-
The Method: Researchers Maxwell Cook, Kendall Klewer, and Joselyn Wood analyzed a dataset of transportation projects from 2018 through 2025 using a reliability score formula based on the z-scores of cost overruns, delay days, and dollar overruns.
-
Quantitative Finding: Project cost estimate accuracy decreases significantly once the actual or estimated award cost surpasses $10,000,000.
-
Qualitative Finding: Contractor 1 is identified as the most unreliable entity in the dataset; projects involving underpasses consistently require the longest duration to complete relative to other job types; a direct correlation exists between higher project costs and increased estimation inaccuracy.
Recommended Citation
Cook, Maxwell; Klewer, Kendall; and Wood, Jocelyn, "Data Analysis for a Regional Department of Transportation" (2026). 2026 Student Academic Showcase. 6.
https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/src_2026/Posters/1/6
Included in
Data Analysis for a Regional Department of Transportation
The given client is the regional office of a state department of a transportation agency that oversees five counties within the state. The regional office has provided information pertaining to areas such as financials, car accidents, and contractors which will be used to explore a variety of data trends and insights. The goal of the data exploration is to determine if there are other ways in which money can be reallocated to create an optimized spending plan for future projects. Actual award cost versus estimated award cost, contractor versus timeliness of projects, and type of job versus employers in a county are just a few examples of tests that will be run to explore data. The R and Python programming languages along with Microsoft Excel will be used for the duration of the project.