Life Cycle Cost Analysis For INDOT Pavement Design Procedures

Many highway pavements in Indiana are nearing the end of their service lives and are experiencing unprecedented levels of traffic loading. Given the uncertainty of sustained funding for highway replacement, rehabilitation and maintenance, this situation necessitates the use of balanced decision-making tools to arrive at long-term and cost-effective investments. LCCA, a technique founded on economic analysis principles, is useful because it enables evaluation of overall long-term economic efficiency between competing alternative investments and consequently has important applications in pavement design and management. LCCA driving forces include ISTEA 1991 which required the consideration of life-cycle costing in pavement design and engineering and TEA-21 which encouraged the development of LCCA procedures on NHS projects. Previous studies conducted in Indiana and elsewhere suggest that more effective long-term pavement investment decisions could be made at lower cost with adoption of LCCA principles.