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Incentive/disincentive (I/D) and cost-plus-time (A+B) are the two most widely used alternative contracting methods (ACMs) for accelerating the construction of highway infrastructure improvement projects. However, little is known about their tradeoff effects on project schedule and cost performance. This study addresses this problem by creating and testing a stochastic decision support model called alternative contracting cost-time tradeoff (ACT 2 ). This method was developed by a second order polynomial regression analysis and validated by the PRESS statistic and paired comparison tests. The results of a trend analysis based on a rich set of high-confidence project data show that I/D was effective at cutting the duration of projects, while I/D produced the largest cost growth as compared to pure A+B and conventional methods. This cost-time tradeoff effect was confirmed by the ACT 2 model, which determines the level of the cost-time tradeoff effect for different ACMs. This study will help state transportation agencies promote more effective application of ACMs by providing data-driven performance benchmarking results for ACMs when evaluating competing accelerating strategies and techniques.

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