Life Cycle Assessment of Asphalt Pavement Maintenance


Download Final Report

CAIT project no.: CAIT-UTC-013

Fiscal Year: 2012/2013

Status: Final

Rutgers-CAIT Author(s): Hao Wang, Ph.D., Patrick Szary, Ph.D.

External Author(s): Sue Gresavage

Sponsor(s): New Jersey Department of Transportation, FHWA - RITA

Summary:

The economic and environmental impacts of different pavement maintenance and preservation activities are important for pavement repair alternative selection process. Many studies have been conducted to evaluate the economic impacts for pavement repair alternatives selection using Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) but do not consider their environmental impacts. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is analytical technique for assessing potential environmental burdens and impacts throughout a product’s life from raw material acquisition through production, use and disposal. LCA is an appropriate tool for assessing the environmental impacts and helps to identify which impacts are the most significant across the life cycle. In this proposed research, we are trying to study the environmental impacts of different pavement maintenance alternatives using a LCA approach. The main research objective is to develop a LCA methodology to consider the energy and environmental impacts of pavement maintenance at its construction and usage stage, which can be used by state agencies for the appropriate selection of maintenance strategy.