Quantifying the Life Cycle Cost Implications of Preservation Treatments

Pavement engineers and researchers are in agreement that considerable savings can be obtained by adopting a pavement preservation approach. Pavement preservation provides a means for maintaining and improving the functional condition of an existing pavement segment through application of a preventative and responsive set of treatments that slow deterioration or correct isolated defects and thus increase the length of time between major rehabilitation projects which will benefit roadway users and decrease costs related to project administration. These treatments are designed to prolong the service life of the surface or near-surface layer without adding significant structural capacity to the pavement structure. One challenge for preventive maintenance strategies is that it is time-sensitive. Premature or delayed maintenance activities result in unnecessarily high maintenance costs. The effects of preservation treatments are measurable and should be reflected in the overall models of pavement performance. Figure 1 shows a typical performance curve that illustrates the effects of applying preventive maintenance treatments. While the effects of preservation are easy to illustrate, their implementation and measured benefits are not as easy to quantify for various reasons. This research proposes a framework for quantifying the effects of preservation treatments on pavement service life and life-cycle costs with a guide document to facilitate implementation of the framework. The proposed framework will investigate the adequacy of the use of collected condition variables such as cracking and rutting of asphalt pavements and cracking and faulting of concrete pavements to quantify the lifecycle cost implications of preservation treatments between pavement management sections that received them and those that did not. In addition, incorporating these cost implications in asset management systems would provide a means for promoting the use of preservation treatments and optimizing the allocation of resources. The findings from this study will be of immediate interest to state pavement design and maintenance engineers and others involved in the different aspects of pavements.

Language

• English

Project

• Funding: $127782
• Contract Numbers:

  TR-784

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Iowa Department of Transportation

  800 Lincoln Way
  Ames, IA  United States  50010
• Managing Organizations:

  Iowa Department of Transportation

  800 Lincoln Way
  Ames, IA  United States  50010
• Project Managers:

  Clute, Khyle

• Performing Organizations:

  Iowa State University, Ames

  Center for Transportation Research and Education
  2711 South Loop Drive, Suite 4700
  Ames, IA  United States  50010-8664
• Principal Investigators:

  Smadi, Omar

• Start Date: 20240309
• Expected Completion Date: 20261231
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Asphalt pavements; Concrete pavements; Life cycle costing; Pavement maintenance; Preventive maintenance; Service life
• Subject Areas: Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Materials; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01940253
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Iowa Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: TR-784
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Dec 18 2024 3:51PM