Book Description

Given the aging of highway pavements, high traffic levels, and uncertainty of sustained preservation funding, there is a need for balanced decision-making tools such as LCCA to ensure long-term and cost-effective pavement investments. It has been shown in past research that more effective long-term pavement investment could be made at lower cost using LCCA. Current LCCA-based pavement design and preservation practice in Indiana could be further enhanced by due consideration of user costs. Also, the existing FHWA LCCA software could be further enhanced for increased versatility, flexibility, and more specific applicability to the needs of Indiana, particularly with regard to treatment cost estimation and development of alternative feasible preservation strategies (rehabilitation and maintenance types and timings). The study documented/developed several sets of alternative pavement design and preservation strategies consistent with existing and foreseen Indiana practice. The preservation strategies were developed using two alternative criteria – trigger values (pavement condition thresholds) and predefined time intervals (based on treatment service lives) and are intended for further study before they can be used for practice. These strategies were developed on the basis of historical pavement management data, existing INDOT Design Manual standards, and a survey of experts. The study also found that with a few enhancements, FHWA’s current LCCA methodology and software (RealCost) could be adapted for use by INDOT for purposes of decision support for pavement investments and proceeded to make such enhancements.