Project delays adversely affect road infrastructure development in developing countries. Unfavorable consequences of project delays involve cost overrun, contractual disputes, arbitration, and quality non-conformities. Despite these risks, literature shows that delays are still a prevalent problem in construction management. Although there is a considerable number of publications on project delays, few studies have compared their causes between developing countries. Therefore, this study aimed to: a) classify and determine the level of influence of the delay causes; b) find the relationship between delay causes and country's development; and c) propose recommendations for mitigating the most critical causes in developing countries. A systematic literature review provided a sample of 14 primary studies from Africa (50%) and Asia (50%). Based on this sample, the study found that developing countries, with a GDP per capita ($US2018) <= $ 2,000, may experience different delay causes depending on the economic and the geographical contexts. In African countries with a Global Competitiveness Index-GCI <= 56, road projects may experience delays due to financial issues of the project owner, as well as delays due to equipment/material issues of the project supplier/subcontractor. On the other hand, in Asian countries with a GCI between 62 and 49, road projects may experience delays due to financial issues of the project contractor, and delays due to planning issues of the project designer/consultant. According to these economic contexts, this study proposes a frame of causes and mitigation actions as a contribution to the risk analysis of road projects in developing countries.

An efficient highway infrastructure network is a determining factor in promoting the socio-economic development of countries and regions. Highway planning activities are highly important because their results ensure that projects are delivered within budget, schedule, and scope. Therefore, academics and professionals have promoted various methodological and technological advances focused on improving highway planning processes, evidenced by many scientific documents that address the topic. Despite progress, few studies have focused on analyzing the state of the knowledge structure and the technological and methodological trends of the highway planning topic. Considering this gap, this study presents trends in highway planning and its knowledge structure based on a bibliometric analysis from January 2015 to September 2021. The research method is based on a bibliometric analysis composed of five main stages: (1) scope definition, (2) selection of bibliometric analysis techniques, (3) data collection, (4) bibliometric analysis execution, and (5) evidence analysis and synthesis. Information from 1703 journal papers was collected and analyzed. The findings show that the main trends of highway planning focus on life cycle analysis, computational tools, smart cities, sustainability issues, construction processes, new equipment and materials, and multi-objective optimization, among others. Thus, the findings of this study allow the reader to identify the methodological and technological trends in highway planning and their knowledge gaps to guide future studies in the field.

Delay is one of the most common, complex and risky phenomena that adversely affects performance of construction projects. Several studies have been conducted on delay factors identification, some focused on road infrastructures, others on buildings, or on construction projects broadly. However, there are scarce publications with a comprehensive and sound analysis among projects of different type. This study presents a comparative analysis of delay factors between road infrastructure and building projects using the following research process: (1) a systematic review of articles published in specialized and peer-reviewed journals is performed; 2) relevant studies are chosen based on inclusion/exclusion criteria; (3) qualitative evidence is categorized; (4) quantitative evidence is analyzed with Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient; and (5) contributions are summarized. A final set of twenty published articles provided quantitative and qualitative evidence of construction delays. The findings indicated that delay factors identification and prioritization differs between projects and countries. Some critical delay factors for road infrastructure projects were inadequate contractor's experience and payment delays to contractor, while for building projects were shortage of materials and financial difficulties of contractor.

Studies show that many organisations face a deficient capability of information analysis to make decisions effectively, due to a lack of statistical evidence and the poor quality of data, among other factors. This has become an increasing problem in some public organisations of developing countries. This study proposes a methodical approach for the policy formulation improvement, based on statistical evidence. Conducted as a case study in the city of Barrancabermeja in Colombia, this work identified relevant factors that influence the approval procedure, tested as statistical evidence at a confidence level α = .05. The sample consisted of 55 civil engineering projects completed during 2008-2013. The statistical evidence found in this study suggest a benchmark of 15 days as the expected duration for the registration and approval processes of projects, which may be adopted as an assessment policy for public project management in Colombia. Additionally, the study provided statistical evidence to formulate policy related with: the memorandum of commitment to the community benefited by the project, the methodology for the registration of public projects, and the project budget estimation. Thus, this study advocates the use of statistical evidence as an appropriate strategy for the improvement policy formulation of project management processes and decision making in public organisations.

Accreditation is a contemporary issue in engineering education. There are varying opinions about the opportunities and barriers of this process within the Colombian context. This study compared the advantages and disadvantages of various experiences published in the literature about ABET accreditation. The findings show the ABET accreditation promotes the adoption and implementation of a continuous improvement system and quality culture in engineering education. Additionally, the continuous improvement process aligns the institutional mission, program educational objectives, curricula, and student outcomes. On the contrary, the main concern is the high cost associated with preparing and adapting programs to meet the ABET requirements. Accreditation takes time and effort to be meaningful, which can sometimes lead to increased workloads and time requirements, inadequate training, and lack of faculty commitment. The compilation of experiences with the ABET accreditation process is a significant contribution to engineering programs of public universities in Colombia seeking international accreditation.