Use of Life Cycle Cost Analysis and Multiple Criteria Decision Aid Tools for Designing Road Vertical Profiles

Amara Loulizi,Hesham Rakha,Youssef Bichiou

doi:10.3390/su11247127

Abstract

The current design practice for the vertical profile of roads in rolling and mountainous terrains is to follow the existing grades in order to minimize earthwork costs. This means that the only criterion considered during the design phase is the initial cost. It would be preferable to include other criteria that are directly related to sustainability, particularly fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Therefore, this paper describes a proposed design procedure that starts by finding feasible alternatives with different grades. Then, a microsimulation traffic tool is used to simulate the movement of predicted vehicles (volume and type) over the different alternatives. The microsimulation tool provides reliable estimates of travel times, fuel consumption, and CO2 emissions for the different alternatives. With these data, it is possible to use life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) or multiple criteria decision aid (MCDA) tools to select the “optimal” alternative. The proposed procedure was used on a case study involving a 6-km highway section with different proposed grades ranging from 2% to 8%. Using LCCA and an MCDA tool, it was revealed that the current design alternative is not the optimal alternative in most considered scenarios (various fuel values for LCCA and different “Cost” weights for MCDA).

Highlights

Over the past few years, most research in the transportation sector has dealt with minimizing fuel consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
Tabhielitayu, tshinorcse baelliiteevre that the value of fuel is much more than its sale price and should include the concept of sustainability, since a liter saved today would be available for use by future generations
The weight of the “Time” criterion was kept constant at 5%, while the weight for the Cost criterion was varied from 35% to 85%, which means that the weights for the “Fuel” and “CO2” criteria were varied from 5% to 30%

Summary

Introduction

Over the past few years, most research in the transportation sector has dealt with minimizing fuel consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This trend developed as a direct result of growing worldwide awareness about climate change and the need for sustainability. In the U.S, in 2017, CO2 emitted from fossil fuel combustion in the transportation sector was estimated at 1794 megatons of CO2-equivalent [2] In their Transportation Energy Data Book, Davis and Boundy presented many facts about fuel consumption in the transportation sector in the U.S [3], including the following main facts:

Methods

Results

Conclusion