How much road deterioration do heavy vehicles cause on Australia’s sealed flexible pavements?

Abstract

ABSTRACT An evidence-based estimate of the load-related road deterioration due to heavy vehicles on the road network is needed for underpinning heavy vehicle road user charges on Australia’s arterial roads. A network level model for estimating the percentage (%) load-related road deterioration was developed for typical sealed unbound pavements in Australia’s sealed road network. This model was based on a network level roughness deterioration model using observational data from long-term pavement performance (LTPP) and long-term pavement performance maintenance (LTPPM) sites and accelerated loading facility (ALF) experimental data. The model estimates that the % load-related road deterioration varied with changes to the traffic load, pavement strength and an environmental coefficient. This outcome also implies that the roughness deterioration model for sealed granular pavements is likely to be more appropriate for predicting Australia’s sealed granular pavement deterioration than past internationally based roughness deterioration models which were originally based on the deterioration of asphalt bound pavements.