Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation of Pavement Treatments Using Life-Cycle Cost Analysis

Abstract

This paper evaluated the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of pavement treatments based on the equivalent area method, which uses the area bounded by posttreatment performance curve, threshold, and unified standard service time, as the measure of effectiveness. Multiple linear regression analysis was applied to analyze the influence of factors including traffic level, milling, characteristics of a road section, surface thickness, and crack treatments. Life-cycle cost analysis was conducted to compare the cost-effectiveness of different treatment strategies over a 20-year analysis time frame. Three different asphalt mixtures with different gradations and three preventive treatments including ultrathin friction overlay, hot-in-place rehabilitation, and microsurfacing were investigated. The data of pavement surface condition index (PCI), riding quality index (RQI), and rutting depth index (RDI) collected in Zhejiang Province in China were adopted to evaluate the treatment performance. Analysis results showed that a lower traffic growth rate and a thicker asphalt layer are associated with a higher treatment effectiveness. Lighter traffic volume and a thicker asphalt layer contribute to higher cost-effectiveness. Milling and crack treatment appear to increase effectiveness but reduce cost-effectiveness. Road sections with a big curvature and long, steep slopes tend to have lower effectiveness. In addition, alternately using an asphalt overlays and preventive treatments showed a high cost-effectiveness and is recommended. Microsurfacing is cost-effective when applied relatively early in the pavement life.