Statistical analysis of causes for design change in highway construction on Taiwan

Design change exist in construction projects and often cause cost overrun or schedule delay. Change management is a key issue in project management. The first step of change management is change identification. It includes the recognition of potential change event conditions in the project and the clarification of change responsibilities. We conducted multiple-case studies using statistics analysis to identify change in highway project in Taiwan, to clarify the causes of construction change and to analyze the influence. The results show the differences in engineering properties among embankment roads, viaducts, and tunnels create differences in emphasis in investigating and managing geological concerns. The analysis furthermore indicates that, in order to prevent changes of design because of insufficiency of geologic survey, site-survey shall be enhanced in the feasibility analysis and planning design stages for future similar projects. The finding in the paper can be used as a reference for clients in forming their project procurement strategy.