01656939

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Pavement systems consume large amounts of energy, materials, and a significant portion of maintenance funds, which cause a substantial strain on the environment and the economy. Hence, a clear framework for designing and constructing a sustainable pavement is needed. To measure sustainability in pavement, various tools were developed and adopted. Among these approaches, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a widely used quantitative method for measuring the environmental impacts of pavement alternatives. However, time-consuming data collection coupled with the lack of proper data, various assumptions, and inconsistent rules among stakeholders limits the validity of LCA. An alternative sustainability tool, Environment Product Declaration (EPD), addresses the limitations of LCA. This study presents a cradle-to-grave framework for selection of a pavement design, which in turn achieves the objective of a sustainable pavement. The developed framework allows one to compare different design/product alternatives that balance engineering goals against extant environmental and economic performance and combines the two into an overall performance score. This approach is inclusive of a) an EPD analysis, which quantifies the environmental impacts from raw materials extraction to manufacturing; b) a transportation analysis, which quantifies the impact of transporting concrete mixes from a plant location to the construction site; and c) an economic analysis, which evaluates the economic value of an alternative. Developed modules and databases were incorporated into a simple decision-making tool, a Windows-based software, which was developed for the selection of a design/product with a balance that extends across engineering, environmental, and economic performance criteria.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AFD30 Standing Committee on General and Emerging Pavement Design. Alternate title: A Decision-Making Tool for Incorporating Sustainability Measures into Pavement Design

18-00231

English

4p

2018

Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

References

Decision making; Life cycle analysis; Pavement design; Pavement management systems; Sustainable development

Environment; Highways; Pavements

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2018 Paper #18-00231

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jan 8 2018 10:04AM