Adjustments to Pavement Life-Cycle Cost Analysis Procedures;Final rept. Aug 02-May 03

摘要

Life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) uses economic principles to compare competing investment alternatives. It is used by the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) to help select between asphalt and concrete alternatives for large paving projects. The purpose of this University Transportation Center for Alabama (UTCA) research project was to evaluate changes which may be incorporated in ALDOT's LCCA procedures and to establish a schedule to implement the potential changes. This project was meant to be the scoping phase of a potential multi-phase project to update the LCCA process. The researchers investigated the following areas: Developing background information for an ALDOT policy statement to address factors that identify situations when selecting the lowest cost alternative may not be the best choice; Incorporating reliability into LCCA calculations; Assembling data for use in anticipated new LCCA software; Evaluating the effect of user costs on typical ALDOT LCCAs; Using salvage value in LCCA; Including routine maintenance values in LCCA; Using deterministic rather than probabilistic LCCA procedures.