Sustainable energy source facilities such as ethanol plants, wind farms, and biomass power plants are constructed in many parts of the United States. To successfully construct and operate such facilities, proper roadway infrastructure is needed. The majority of the local roads are not designed to carry heavy loads typically associated with wind farm construction, or daily truck traffic generated by ethanol and biomass power plants during their construction and operation. This paper aims to identify specific critical loads and truck traffic volumes associated with the construction and operation of such sustainable energy source facilities. To that end, a simple procedure is presented, which provides a pavement structure design capable of withstanding heavy traffic loads, while at the same time quantifies the effects that new sustainable energy source facilities may have on local road networks.
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