Pavement Project Life-cycle Cost Analysis Model And Application

Recently with the rapidly development of highway construction , people now increasingly cared about the preservation of highway asset. Life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) is a technique that utilizes economic principles to evaluate and compare competing investment alternatives. It can be used in highway engineering design phase. Through comparison of the alternative's life cycle cost, designer can select the most appropriate alternatives for the particular project, achieving saving construction funds.According to content and application scope of LCCA which used in highway project, it can be divided into project level and network level. This article mainly discusses the project-level pavement LCCA calculation model and related content. Once the decision has been made to undertake a project, a life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) should be completed as early as possible in the project development process especially the project design period. Project-level pavement LCCA compared with traditional project selecting methods has many advantages, with its help people can easily identify the lowest cost alternative that accomplishes a project's objectives.Project-level pavement LCCA has its economy evaluation method, analysis process and result selecting methods. Pavement project types are divided into 4 categories: new construction/reconstruction, widening, CAPM, and roadway rehabilitation, different pavement project type has different design alternatives. LCCA accounts for relevant costs to the sponsoring agency, owner, operator of the facility, and the roadway user that will occur throughout the life of an alternative. It is necessary to establish calculation model of pavement project LCCA and correlative parameters of the model.Finally, an example of capital maintenance pavement project shows how to use LCCA in the project design stage, including how to select alternatives in the pavement design phase, how to select maintenance and rehabilitation measures, how to calculate the project's life cycle cost, and how to identify result.