Local and State Government Policies to Improve Pavement Sustainability with New Materials

Public pavement network owners can play a role in reducing climate change and other environmental impacts. At the same time, providing safety for the public and those involved in the pavement industry, staying financially sustainable, and ensuring expected performance of pavement infrastructure are critical for local and state governments. There are many "feel good" decisions that are being proposed for pavement and other civil infrastructure materials and processes. However, on further analysis, some of them may actually increase environmental impacts. There are also many decisions that can be made that appear to reduce costs but may actually increase them. Policymaker and technical decision-makers currently do not have clear and consistent methods for identifying and prioritizing what new approaches to use. Policy mandates and technical decisions that are made without consideration of the complete life cycle of the pavement, the full system of interactions between pavement design, materials, construction, use, maintenance, rehabilitation, and end-of-life (EOL), and interactions with other systems can be ineffective or have unintended negative consequences that result in increased costs, with little change or even negative environmental effects. The white paper will concisely summarize a framework and practical steps for reviewing and comparing policies and technical decisions regarding pavement. The intended audience includes policymakers and those supporting policy development, as well as engineers and planners making decisions considering technical alternatives and changes in specifications and regulations intended to provide environmental benefits.

• Record URL:
  https://ncst.ucdavis.edu/project/local-and-state-government-policies-improve-pavement-sustainability-new-materials

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $22898
• Contract Numbers:

  Caltrans 65A0686 Task Order 075

  DOT 69A3552348319

  DOT 69A3552344814

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  National Center for Sustainable Transportation

  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States 

  California Department of Transportation

  1227 O Street
  Sacramento, CA  United States  95843
• Managing Organizations:

  National Center for Sustainable Transportation

  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States 

  University of California, Davis

  1 Shields Ave
  Davis, California  United States  95616
• Project Managers:

  Iacobucci, Lauren

• Performing Organizations:

  National Center for Sustainable Transportation

  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States 

  University of California, Davis

  1 Shields Ave
  Davis, California  United States  95616
• Principal Investigators:

  Harvey, John

  Butt, Ali

• Start Date: 20230523
• Expected Completion Date: 20240630
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Climate change; Environmental impacts; Infrastructure; Life cycle costing; Pavement design; Pavement maintenance; Paving; Paving materials; Policy; Regulation; Specifications; Sustainable development
• Subject Areas: Construction; Design; Environment; Highways; Materials; Pavements; Policy;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01884729
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: National Center for Sustainable Transportation
• Contract Numbers: Caltrans 65A0686 Task Order 075, DOT 69A3552348319, DOT 69A3552344814
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Jun 9 2023 9:00AM