A user guide for calculating the cost of road wear on sealed local roads

Western Australian Local Governments face significant costs from road wear caused by unforeseen heavy vehicle traffic triggered by projects, typically in the resources industry. The impacts of additional heavy vehicle traffic on shortening road life and increasing maintenance requirements are greater for roads that were not designed and constructed for this purpose, which is the case for most Local Government roads. Methods previously used to estimate the cost impact often required detailed input data, specialised engineering evaluation and modelling skills which are not readily available to Local Government. A methodology has been developed using the concept of the marginal cost of road wear. The marginal cost of road wear in this context is calculated from the difference in cost of maintaining a road in a serviceable condition caused by an increase in traffic loading arising from an additional freight task and a base traffic load. The marginal cost is dependent on many variables including the magnitude and duration of the additional load, the strength of the road and the cost of road construction and maintenance. Since these variables fluctuate according to the specifics of a project within the State, a catalogue of charts has been developed to represent the spectrum of scenarios that are likely to be encountered. The charts are presented in the form of a “User Guide” that provides an easy to use tool for Local Governments to estimate the costs of road wear for a particular freight task

• Record URL:
  http://arrbknowledge.com
• Authors:
  • Bondietti, M
  • Michel, N
  • Toole, T
• Conference:
  • ARRB Conference, 27th, 2016, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• Publication Date: 2016-11

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 12p
• Monograph Title: Linking people, places and opportunities: 27th ARRB Conference, 16-18 November 2016, Melbourne, Victoria

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Costs; Deterioration; Economics; Freight transportation; Heavy vehicles; Loads; Local government; Maintenance; Traffic loads; Types of roads by network
• Uncontrolled Terms: Road design and asset management; Road networks
• Geographic Terms: Australia; Western Australia
• ATRI Terms: Deterioration; Freight transport; Heavy vehicle; Local government; Maintenance costs; Road network; Traffic load; Transport economics
• ITRD Terms: 1112: Freight transport; LOCAL AUTHORITY; 1236: Lorry
• Subject Areas: Economics; Freight Transportation; Maintenance and Preservation; I61: Equipment and Maintenance Methods;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01622990
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Files: ITRD, ATRI
• Created Date: Jan 24 2017 12:06PM