The selected project, which is quite popular in news media, is the Crescent Corridor Expansion in the United States. The rational for this project is that the existing system used to transport goods across the country has been based on the railroads for a very long time. Furthermore, there is an array of the inter-state roads, which have also been used for the transportation of goods across the country. However, there has increased congestion on the roads of the nation because of this system of transporting goods across the country. It is this high congestion on the roads that has caused the need for inter-modal transportation with great interest in methods different from trucking. It is also understood that a lot of freight companies have always wanted to save their money through cost cuts by avoiding the long truck routes. These are the reasons that informed the start of this particular project in the United States of America.
The scope of this project is upgrade of the Crescent Corridor. It is important to note that the Crescent Corridor is a freight rail network, which passes through 13 states of the United States. It connects New Orleans to New Jersey (Hollywell & Lippman, 2012). Therefore, in terms of geographic scope, this project will cover the distance that runs from New Orleans to New Jersey. The plan of this project involves a series constructional work that will lay 300 new miles of track (Hollywell & Lippman, 2012). Moreover, the project will also entail building or upgrading the intermodal terminals within 11 markets. The construction works of this project started way back in the year 2012. It started with terminals in Memphis, Birmingham, Ala. and 2 Pennsylvania communities. The expected total cost for the whole completed project is $2.5 billion (Hollywell & Lippman, 2012). This expansion will make it possible for the shippers and trucking firms to transport larger amounts of goods through rail. In the end, pollution caused by trucks will be reduced significantly. The highway congestion will also be significantly eased for the benefit of the public. This project got the goodwill of the U.S. Department of Transportation, which even offered more than $136 million in support of it (Hollywell & Lippman, 2012). The main company that is in charge of this project is the Norfolk Southern and is the one taking the largest share of the funding responsibility for the work being done. Notably, planned project completion time is the year 2030 (Hollywell & Lippman, 2012).
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The two identifiable risks for this project include possible cost overrun and political challenges. The fact that this project started in the year 2012 and is expected to be completed in 2030 gives it a huge time span hence exposing to major risks of political issues and cost overrun. Starting with the political risk, it is vital to note that such a mega-project that targets to affect the lives of over 70% of the citizens of the United States is always subject to political goodwill in order to be completed well (Chan, Scott & Chan, 2004). It has been noted, in this paper, that this project runs through 13 states of the country, connecting New Orleans and New Jersey. Therefore, it is evident that it affects the lives of many Americans in these areas. Political interests will be at play over the duration of its development. Since this project has a lifespan of many years, it will be in process of development under various regimes within the federal government of the United States. Therefore, there may be a new president in future who does not have the goodwill for this project. In search a case, federal government regulations will be enacted and implemented with the sole aim of targeting and killing this project. The new president may even incite the public against this project politically. It is important to note that the federal government has many ways of influencing this project including taking a proposal in the Congress with a view of stopping expressly. It can still do it through an executive order from the president who is opposed to it. Alternatively, the Department of Transport may be ordered by the president to simply search for a regulation or policy that would significantly sabotage the progress of this project. There is such uncertainty in the future of this project.
It has been noted that the scope of this project involves the estimated total cost of $2.5 billion. This estimated total cost can only be to hold over the period of the period of the project if everything considered in the estimation process remains constant. Some of the things that have to remain constant include the projected economic conditions. However, since the project has a very long lifespan of up to 2030, it is unlikely that economic conditions will remain constant over this period. The country may run into an economic crisis over the next period of 12 years. Such an economic crisis could lead to inflation of prices for the raw materials used in this project and make cost to overrun the estimated level (Belout & Gauvreau, 2004). Some inputs used in this project may just have price increases because of economic developments like the increase in the oil prices all over the world. There may be new technology that then renders an existing one, which is used in the expansion process, obsolete. In such a case, therefore, the project management team will be forced to purchase the new technological input so that the project does not appear anachronistic after being completed.
The type of learning addressed in the project includes the training of project personnel on the concept of forecasting. The process used to arrive at the estimated costs and completion time involved a lot of learning for the project personnel. Time management is also another area of learning addressed in this particular project. It is vital to note that the management of time is quite significant in any project since it is always put in a frame of deadlines. The other area where there has been learning is on the economic use of inputs. To maintain the estimated cost for the whole project, it is expected that project personnel has knowledge on the ways of conserving the resources available (Loch, DeMeyer & Pich, 2011). Misuse of the resources could leads to cost overruns (Loch, DeMeyer & Pich, 2011).
The organizational mindset for this project is quite alive to the possible changes and contingencies that the project may have to face. The organization in charge of this project seems pragmatic in its way of planning for the project and conducts the work in a systematic manner. The impact of this organized mindset on the progress of the project is that there are minimal unknown risks, which may get the management unprepared to tackle them (Loch, DeMeyer & Pich, 2011). This high level of preparedness has aided in achieving good project implementation progress.
The changes I may suggest include the need to train the project management team on the importance of creating more opportunities to solicit funds just in preparation for the unknown eventualities. Moreover, there is need of seeking protection of the project in terms of policy or backing from the Congress so that its continuity is guaranteed regardless of whoever takes over the regime as the president of the United States in the future. There is need of guarding the project against any political witch-hunt that may arise in the future.
References
Belout, A., & Gauvreau, C. (2004). Factors influencing project success: the impact of human resource management. International journal of project management , 22 (1), 1-11.
Chan, A. P., Scott, D., & Chan, A. P. (2004). Factors affecting the success of a construction project. Journal of construction engineering and management , 130 (1), 153-155.
Hollywell, R. & Lippman, D. (2012). “The 5 Biggest U.S. Infrastructure Projects, Plus 5 at Risk.” Governing. Retrieved from http://www.governing.com/topics/transportation-infrastructure/gov-5-biggest-us-infrastructure-projects-plus-5-at-risk.html on 6/6/2017
Loch, C. H., DeMeyer, A., & Pich, M. (2011). Managing the unknown: A new approach to managing high uncertainty and risk in projects . Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
