A decision-support framework for accelerated wastewater pipeline construction: Integrating economic, social, environmental, and technical criteria

Open-cut construction, the traditional construction method for wastewater pipeline projects, often leads to significant inefficiencies, lengthy delays, and substantial social and environmental impacts. This study proposes a decision support framework to evaluate accelerated wastewater pipeline construction (AWPC) techniques to reduce delays, costs, and other impacts observed in pipeline construction projects. The framework structurally incorporates economic, technical, environmental, and social criteria, while allowing weights to be adjusted based on stakeholder priorities. The framework combines a flowchart to screen feasible technologies based on project-specific parameters with an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model to prioritize alternatives through multicriteria evaluation. While the methodology followed is broadly applicable across regions and contexts, expert input was collected from stakeholders in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and validation was performed using 14 completed pipeline projects. Results show that economic criteria, especially initial cost, are most influential in decision making, although technical, social, and environmental factors also play important roles. In 9 of the 14 cases, AHP recommendations aligned with actual construction methods; discrepancies were primarily due to unstructured planning. Scenario-based sensitivity analysis confirmed the model's robustness under varied stakeholder priorities. Interrater agreement among experts was evaluated using Kendall's coefficient of concordance (W=0.76), indicating strong consistency in judgment and further supporting model validity. This study contributes to the construction engineering and management body of knowledge by introducing a dual-framework model that bridges early-stage qualitative screening and quantitative multicriteria analysis. The framework demonstrates theoretical and practical utility through validation on 14 real-world cases, robust stakeholder engagement, and scenario-based testing. Its modular and replicable structure supports adaptation across regions and infrastructure types, filling a critical gap in early-stage AWPC decision-making.