Effect of pavement surface properties on life cycle cost analysis

Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) is one of the most well established methods used in determining the best alternative pavement project. The two main pillars of LCCA are user costs and agency costs. User costs are incurred during normal transportation operation and when there is a work zone present. Costs that occur during normal operating conditions are due to pavement surface profile, while costs that occur during work zone activities are due to agency decisions on work zone conditions. In traditional LCCA, it is assumed that work zones costs are the main part of user costs. The work zone costs include vehicle delay costs, vehicle operating costs, crash costs, and emission costs. On the other hand, costs associated with normal operating conditions, such as vehicle operating costs, are independent of project alternatives and thus they are negligible. However, recent studies have suggested that vehicle operating costs are more sensitive to roughness and texture profile than initially thought. Therefore, even slight changes in pavement surface profile may affect user costs. This study introduces a methodology that considers normal operating conditions in LCCA; including pavement surface properties. The approach is presented in a Microsoft Excel Visual Basic (VBA) tool. Finally, a case study is presented to illustrate the importance of user costs for normal operating conditions and their effect on LCCA. Analysis showed that for medium to low traffic roadways, the impact of normal operating costs is significant when compared to work zone costs. Furthermore, decreasing the number of treatment activities may increase the user costs because the pavement is less frequently improved. In addition, as would be expected, it was found that with increasing discount rates, the significance of normal operating costs further increase.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Civil Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2019

Author dc:creator

• Okte, Egemen

Contributors dc:contributor

• Al-Qadi, Imad L.
• Ozer, Hasan

• Pavement LCA LCCA User Cost

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2018 Egemen Okte

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/102814

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/102814