Issues and Perspectives in the Application of Different Pavement Design Methods to Life Cycle Cost Analysis

What is it about?

Life cycle costs analysis (LCCA) is an economic evaluation tool that can provide valuable guidance to transportation officials in management decision process. The application of LCCA to pavement management is vital because it permits the selection of the best alternative, based on the analysis of agency costs and user costs, taking into account (after selecting pavement type) different maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) strategies within the same pavement type. Additionally, environmental costs can be considered. Issues arise when comparing the expected life of the pavement derived according to different pavement design tools, such as the Mechanistic-Empirical pavement Design Guide (M-EPDG) and the AASHTO 1993 Guide, because of inputs and outputs consistency among different design methods. In the light of the above facts, the objectives of this paper have been confined into the analysis of the consequences in terms of LCCA which derive from the application of different design methods to the same pavements. A method for taking into account different pavement design method in LCC analyses was set up and applied to a case-study. Different methods in the same LCCA scenario are considered. Study demonstrates that pavement design methods are based on quite different methodologies and can lead to appreciable differences. Benefits are expected in terms of soundness and robustness of the analyses and economic consequences. Results can benefit both researchers and practitioners.

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