VDOT’s Turnkey Pilot: Accelerating Project Delivery Through Partnership and Lessons Learned

Virginia’s transportation program continues to face the challenge of delivering needed improvements faster while maintaining the quality, accountability and stewardship expected of VDOT. One approach receiving increasing attention is VDOT’s Turnkey Project Development Pilot Program.

Now in its second year, the Turnkey pilot is demonstrating that changes in the traditional project development process can produce meaningful schedule benefits—but it is also providing valuable lessons about what must be done differently to make accelerated delivery successful.

A Faster Path to Construction
The Turnkey concept is intended to accelerate targeted projects by shifting greater responsibility for project development to the consultant team while maintaining VDOT oversight. According to VDOT’s August 2026 assessment, the typical Tier 1 project development process without Right of Way takes approximately 2.4 years from authorization to construction advertisement. The Turnkey process has a targeted timeframe to reduce this duration by 40% creating an important opportunity to reduce project inflation.

The pilot has included approximately 30 projects, consisting of roadway and bridge improvements with an estimated $25 million in preliminary engineering and $129 million in construction costs. The projects represent a variety of needs, including bridge replacements and rehabilitation, intersections, safety and pedestrian improvements, roadway relocations, acceleration/deceleration lanes and intelligent transportation systems.

As of July 16, 2026, VDOT reported that 73% of tracked Turnkey advertisements were occurring on schedule—an encouraging indication that the accelerated approach can work.

Lessons Learned
The experience to date also demonstrates that accelerating a process does not eliminate the need for good project management. In some cases, it makes effective management even more important.

VDOT and participating consultants identified several recurring challenges. Consultant project managers have had varying levels of experience with VDOT’s internal processes and systems, while roles and responsibilities between consultant and VDOT project managers have not always been clear. Projects also entered the Turnkey process with varying degrees of scope development, creating challenges with budgets, schedules and project expectations.

Other lessons involve right-of-way, environmental permitting, funding requirements, public involvement, design reviews and construction readiness. For example, the assessment found that some projects experienced too many design issues emerging at the 90% review because 60% reviews had not occurred. Late stormwater management and erosion and sediment control issues also created risks to obtaining construction general permits and maintaining schedules.

These experiences point to an important principle: the time saved during project development can quickly be lost if the project is not adequately scoped and organized before entering the accelerated process.

What Comes Next?
VDOT’s assessment identifies several potential improvements for the next phase of Turnkey delivery. These include developing formal Turnkey guidance, improving frequently asked questions, establishing a clear roles-and-responsibilities matrix, strengthening project-selection criteria, improving front-end scoping and involving construction earlier in project development.

Consultant project-manager training is another important opportunity. Consultants participating in the pilot have noted that VDOT’s project development environment involves substantially more processes and systems than may be apparent from the consultant’s traditional design role. VDOT and industry can address that learning curve proactively through training and potentially standardized expectations for Turnkey project managers.  However, this cohort of turnkey projects has groomed numerous consultant project managers that are ready to take on future turnkey projects with little to no learning curve.

The assessment also emphasizes the value of consistent communication. District-level coordination, clearly identified points of contact and regular meetings can help identify risks before they become schedule problems.

Alternative Contracting: Another Piece of the Puzzle
The Turnkey pilot is not occurring in isolation. VDOT is also testing alternative compensation approaches through its Lump Sum and Cost Plus Fixed Fee pilots.

The pilots include 20 Cost Plus Fixed Fee task orders covering 16 consultants, with a total value of approximately $10.7 million, as well as five Lump Sum task orders totaling approximately $866,000. VDOT reports that both approaches are working well and are being viewed as potential alternatives to the administrative burdens associated with fixed billable rates.

Together, these initiatives reflect a broader willingness to examine how VDOT and the consulting industry can work differently to deliver transportation projects more efficiently.  The Lump Sum and Cost Plus Fixed Fee payment methods have introduced another tool in VDOT’s toolbox to apply where appropriate.

A Role for Continued Industry Collaboration
For VTCA and its members, the Turnkey experience reinforces the value of continued dialogue between VDOT and the transportation industry. The Turnkey pilot program specifically recognizes the beneficial collaboration provided through quarterly Turnkey meetings with VTCA, while also noting that additional collaboration could be valuable.

The objective should not simply be to make the Turnkey process faster. It should be to make it predictable, repeatable and successful.

That will require VDOT and industry to continue sharing lessons learned, refining project-selection criteria, clarifying responsibilities, improving training and establishing realistic scopes and budgets before projects enter the accelerated process.

The first two years of the Turnkey pilot provide encouraging evidence that Virginia can accelerate project delivery for certain projects that fit the Turnkey project profile. The next challenge—and opportunity—is to turn those lessons into a mature delivery model that can be applied consistently across the Commonwealth.

Continued engagement by VTCA, its Engineering Consultant Leadership Committee and the broader transportation construction community will be important as VDOT considers the future of Turnkey and other alternative approaches to project delivery.