Help:Contents

The Michigan Department of Transportation - Construction Manual (CM) contains MDOT clarification on policy, procedure and guidance for the construction of road and bridge infrastructfure and other related facilities. It also includes specific technical topics related to the divisions of the 2012 Standard Specifications for Construction (2012 SSFC). The information is presented in numerous articles having as simple a layout as possible. These articles are numbered to reflect as closely as possible the pay items and divisions from the 2012 SSFC.

The CM is not a contract document and CM articles are not referenced as "sections" but as CM XXX.XX.XX or "articles" to avoid confusion with MDOT specifications. Where a conflict exists between the CM and a contract, the contract document rules. References and links to the Michigan Standard Specifications are given as "Sec XXX.XX" or "Section XXX.XX of the 2012 Standard Specifications for Construction." References and links to the Michigan Standard Plans or Special Details are "Standard Plan R-##-A" or "Special Detail ##".

Organization

The CM articles are grouped into divisions and sections similar to the 2012 SSFC. The sections are then broken down into four (4) smaller sub-divisions similar to the 2012 SSFC. These are:

• General (Description)
• Materials
• Construction
• Measurement and Payment

The bulk of the information will typically be under the construction sub-division for each section.

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Content Suggestions

To make revisions to the content a User (must be registered) can make a suggestion to the Content Manager for a particular division:

The Content Managers for the various divisions are:

Division 1 - Jason Clark

Division 2 - Dave Gauthier

Division 3 - Dave Gauthier

Division 4 - Dave Gauthier

Division 5 - Kevin Kennedy

Division 6 - John Staton

Division 7 - Matt Chynoweth

Division 8 - Jason Gutting

The Content Managers will then assign to technical subject matter expert staff to discuss the merits of the suggested revision, make any supportive changes to the recommendation and update the content if deemed appropriate. Just because a user suggests a change does not mean that it will happen automatically, it will be vetted through appropriate review teams per the process appropriate for the type of change.

Type 1: Editorial changes only, Content Manager can make the change without review from technical experts.

Type 2: Slight technical change or impacts more than one division of the CM. This will be distributed by the Content Manager to an Ad Hoc team of technical area experts for review, discussion, approval and editing.

Type 3: Complex technical change, policy revision, or high cost. The Content Manager, will assemble an Ad Hoc team of technical area experts for review, discussion and drafting of a proposal to the Engineering Operation Committee (EOC). The EOC will then make a decision regarding implementation of the change in to the CM.

Overall Construction Manual suggestions or requests for assistance in using the Construction Manual can be sent to the e-mail address below.

MDOT Construction Manual - MDOT-eManuals

Additional information regarding content revisions is located in the Content Revision Procedures page.

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Terms

Shall Mandatory practice, contract documents often contain independent definitions.

May Optional practice(s) with no requirement or recommendation.

Should Expected or necessary. While not absolutely mandatory deviation from this practice calls for engineering documentation.

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History

Would it be useful for you to be able to find when and how an article that you are interested in changed? Or view exactly what an CM article stated and how it looked in the past? Log into the CM and a “History” tab is available at the top of every article, providing a view of any previous versions of the CM article or comparing any two versions of the article on a line-by-line basis.

Many of the revisions will have a brief explanation. A bold "M" indicates a minor change (a Category 1 editorial change).

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Watch/Watchlist

This is used to collect articles you are interested in to be able to view the changes to these articles.

When you log into the CM a “watch” tab is located at the top of every article of the CM. Clicking the “watch” tab will add the article to your watch list. To remove it from the watch list click the same tab which is now labeled "unwatch".

To view revisions to the watch list articles open up "my watch list" above the CM articles tab choose the view changes that occurred during a past time frame (2 hours, 6 hours, 3 days, etc.). A bold "M" identifies a minor change, new articles are identified with a bold "N". For significant revisions a descriptions of the revision is typically provided.

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Preferences

If you would like to have an email sent to you every time an article of interest in the CM has been changed this is where you'd select that option. This email would not provide the details of the revision, but that the article was revised in some manner. Logging in to the CM will allow you view the article’s history and to view the actual revision.

To obtain an email alert every time a CM article of interest has been revised, click “My Preferences”, located above the CM article’s tabs. This leads to a “User Profile” tab. Near the bottom of the “User Profile” is the “e-mail” portion in which you may choose the various revision situations to send you an e-mail.

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Discussion

Those logged into the CM are encouraged to use the discussion capability of the CM. If you have a question, it is likely others may, too. Any suggestions you have may also be very helpful to another reader, as well. Use the “Discussion” capabilities of the CM to contribute questions and suggestions for all other readers. The Construction Field Services staff monitors all articles so that your comment can be addressed.

After logging in, simply go to the article of concern and select the “Discussion” tab at the top of the article. If your comment or question is the first discussion for the article, you will be shown an edit screen. Type in your comment or question. Otherwise, an existing discussion will be shown. Additional comments can be added by selecting the “+” tab.

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Registering

There are benefits to becoming a registered user. This will allow you to create watchlists, get involved and start discussions and also allow you to make suggested changes to the CM at any time.

To become registered is as simple as creating a log in and verifying through the auto generated e-mail which you'll receive. If you would like to create an account follow the link to the Create an Account page.

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General Comments

General comments or questions regarding the Wiki Construction Manual should be sent to the e-mail address below.

• MDOT-eManuals@michigan.gov

A Michigan Department of Transportation employee will then be able to assist you. Please note that this e-mail address is not for revising specific content but only for General Wiki questions or access concerns (i.e. broken web links, wiki document downloads, etc.).

With the first release of the MDOT Wiki Construction Manual there are bound to be some errors. If you find an error on a page please contact the Content Manager for that particular Division located here in the Help page. Some sections are still undergoing content revisions, most have been identified by the Content Managers and are noted as such in the Wiki Constrution Manual.

Content will be revised frequently and a way to monitor what changes have occured recently is by using the Recent changes page. This page will show all major and minor edits along with new users that were created. Pretty much everything that goes on in the Construction Manual. For a more specific listing of content changes you will want to see the Recent Major Changes page or Recent Minor Changes page which contain manually updated lists of content changes for specific sections of the Construction Manual.

Wiki Navigation Videos

For helpful tips on how to utilize the features that exist within MDOT's Construction Manual Wiki, check out the video resources that are now available. Click on the thumbnail below to go to the Construction Manual Wiki Tips video library.

Sign Up for Updates

To learn about how to sign up to receive updates related to MDOT's Construction Manaul Wiki along with other State of Michigan content check out the video provided below.

Click here to learn how to sign up for MDOT notifications

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