FACTORS AFFECTING CONSTRUCTION COST OF AC OVERLAY IN LIFE-CYCLE COST ANALYSIS

Every year, highway transportation agencies in the US spend billions of dollars on resurfacing asphalt pavements. The agencies need to decide the timing of resurfacing and overlay thickness design. Currently, many agencies use the life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) procedure to make pavement design and management decisions. However, the validity of the procedure depends on some basic assumptions of LCCA, particularly the road user cost, the projected overlay performance, and the future construction cost. By using construction data from Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KyTC), the authors of this paper reviewed the cost components of a typical resurfacing project and examined how they are affected by the future diesel and asphalt prices. The authors also developed an overlay performance prediction model based on data from the Long-term Pavement Performance Program (LTPP). The cost and performance models developed in this study can assist the KyTC in optimizing pavement resurfacing decisions.