Cost Benefit Analysis of Including Microsurfacing in Pavement Treatment Strategies and Cycle Maintenance

摘要

Preservation of the Pennsylvania state highway system has become more difficult with the development of funding shortages and placement of major emphasis on the bridge program. Therefore, it is appropriate to revisit the topic of timely, cost effective application of thin surface maintenance treatments to extend the life of existing pavements in the state highway system. While the benefit of previous approaches to maintaining pavements provides valuable experience, there are also available innovations for which experience is limited, or does not exist in Pennsylvania. This project was developed to address the need to re-evaluate thin surface treatments, review available new technologies with the objective of recommending potentially beneficial systems, and assess the cost effectiveness of these treatments for conditions in Pennsylvania. For this study, thin surface treatments, i.e., microsurfacing, has been defined as any treatment less than -1 thick which can be applied to the surface of an existing pavement with the objective of improving the performance of the pavement and ultimately extending pavement life. Three distinct tasks were identified to achieve this objective; a review of existing related literature, a survey of experiences in other states with similar conditions, and a cost benefit analysis of the treatments identified. These tasks were conducted during the project study, with a summary report provided to PennDOT describing the findings from each. The details of these task results are subsequently presented in this report.