Abstract
As construction costs continue to rise and adequate amounts of funding continues to be a challenge, the allocation of resources is of critical importance when it comes to the maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) of highway infrastructure. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is presented here that integrates realistic traffic conditions in the operational phase to compare M&R scenarios over the analysis period of a 26-km stretch of Interstate-495. Pavement International Roughness Index (IRI) were determined using American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) PavementME System. Meanwhile, vehicle fuel consumption and emission factors were calculated using a combination of Google Maps®, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator, the second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2) Naturalistic Driving Study, and MassDOT’s Transportation Data Management System. The evaluation of pavement performance with realistic traffic conditions, varying M&R strategies, and material characteristics was quantified in terms of Life Cycle Cost (LCC), Global Warming Potential (GWP), and Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) for both agencies and users. The inclusion of realistic traffic conditions into the use phase of the LCA resulted in a 6.4% increase in CED and GWP when compared to baseline conditions simulated for a week long operation duration. Results from this study show that optimization of M&R type, material selection, and timing may lead to a 2.72% decrease in operations cost and 47.6% decrease in construction and maintenance costs.
Highlights
The United States road infrastructure received a report card grade of a D from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 2017 [1]
This paper provides a methodology to develop that maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) plan with the inclusion of realistic traffic conditions to evaluate life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) impacts that can be applied to other highways and be implemented within infrastructure asset management systems with varying material properties, traffic conditions, and available M&R strategies
Results from this study provided valuable insight into the trade-off between Global Warming Potential (GWP), Cumulative Energy Demand (CED), and Life Cycle Cost (LCC) impacts resulting from performing an LCA on varying pavement cross-sections and M&R alternatives for both agencies and users
Summary
The United States road infrastructure received a report card grade of a D from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 2017 [1]. The motivation of this study is to use a LCA-LCCA approach to evaluate pavement performance over the design life with the inclusion of realistic traffic conditions, different pavement M&R alternatives, and pavement material characteristics. The study presented has three primary objectives: (1) to perform a LCA on an interstate highway with the implementation of real time traffic data (RTTD) and M&R strategy decisions to optimize performance over a given pavement analysis life; (2) to evaluate pavement performance with realistic traffic conditions, varying M&R strategies, and material characteristics in terms of Life Cycle Cost (LCC), Global Warming Potential (GWP), and Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) for both agencies and users; and (3) to quantify the increase in fuel consumption and resulting emissions due to decrease in ride quality (as expressed by the International Roughness Index, IRI) caused by accumulated distress and pavement degradation over the analysis period. IInnffoorrmmaattiioonn rreeggaarrddiinngg tthhee sseelleeccttiioonn ooff tthhee ccaassee ssttuuddyy llooccaattiioonn,, ddeettaaiillss rreellaattiinngg ttoo tthhee ccoonnssttrruuccttiioonn,, uussee,, aanndd MM&&RR pphhaassee ooff tthhee LLCCAA aarree ddiissccuusssseedd ffoolllloowweedd bbyy kkeeyy rreessuullttss aanndd aa sseennssiittiivviittyy aannaallyyssiiss ooff sseelleeccttvvaarriiaabblleess..LLaassttllyy,,aaddisicsucusssisoionnoof fthteheLCLCAArerseuslutsltissipsrpesreesnetendteadnadntdhethime ipmoprtoarntcaencoef ionfcionrcpoorrpaotrinatginrgearleisatliicsttircatffiracffciocncdointidointisoinnstointthoethLeCLACfAramfraemwoewrkoirskdiesmdeomnsotrnastterdat.ed
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