Sustainable Pavement Management: Integrating Economic, Technical, and Environmental Aspects in Decision Making

Sustainability, which is founded on the reconciliation of economic, environmental, and social aspects, has become a major issue for infrastructure managers. The economic and environmental impacts of pavement maintenance are not negligible. More than $400 billion are invested globally each year in pavement construction and maintenance. These projects increase the environmental impacts of vehicle operation by 10%. Because maintenance should be technically appropriate, infrastructure managers must integrate technical, economic, and environmental aspects in the evaluation of maintenance alternatives over the life cycle of a pavement. However, these aspects are normally assessed in measurement units that are difficult to combine in the decision-making process. This research examined and compared methods for the integrated consideration of technical, economic, and environmental aspects, and this study aimed to assist highway agencies, researchers, and practitioners with the integration of these aspects for the sustainable management of pavements. For this purpose, a set of maintenance alternatives for asphalt pavements was evaluated. Methods for the integration of these aspects were explored and led to recommendations for the most suitable methods for different scenarios. As a result of this analysis, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is recommended when the number of alternatives is small. In these situations, the AHP leads to results that are similar to those of the weighting-sum and multiattribute approaches that are frequently used for intuitive selection. However, when the number of alternatives is large, pair comparison becomes difficult with the AHP and the weighting-sum method becomes more appropriate.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.3141/2523-07
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9780309369442
• Authors:
  • Torres-Machí, Cristina
  • Chamorro, Alondra
  • Pellicer, Eugenio
  • Yepes, Víctor
  • Videla, Carlos
• Publication Date: 2015

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 56–63
• Monograph Title: Pavement Management, Volume 1
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
  • Issue Number: 2523
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alternatives analysis; Asphalt pavements; Decision making; Methodology; Pavement maintenance; Pavement management systems; Sustainable development
• Geographic Terms: Chile
• Subject Areas: Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Pavements; I61: Equipment and Maintenance Methods;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01552134
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 9780309369442
• Report/Paper Numbers: 15-4773
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Jan 29 2015 1:57PM