COST COMPARISON OF PAVEMENTS

Abstract

Road construction projects have been implemented all over India as roads are one of the country’s basic infrastructural facilities. The road connectivity in India is good only around the metro cities. So, more emphasis has to be given to the rural areas so as to make them well connected with the major cities. Since the cost comprises of a large portion of government investment, a careful evaluation of the alternatives is utmost importance to make the right choice for a particular project. Flexible pavement are preferred over cement concrete roads as they have a great advantage that these can be strengthened and improved in stages with the growth of traffic and also their surfaces can be milled and recycled for rehabilitation. The flexible pavements are less expensive also with regard to initial investment and maintenance. The appropriate solution for economically beneficial pavement type, bituminous or concrete pavement, is calculated by carrying out Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA). Life-Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) is an economic analysis used to evaluate the cost-efficiency of alternatives based on the Net Present Value (NPV) concept. It is essential to evaluate the abovementioned cost aspects in order to obtain optimum pavement life-cycle costs. However, pavement managers are often unable to consider each important element that may be required for performing future maintenance tasks. Over the last few decades, several approaches have been developed by agencies and institutions for pavement Life-Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA). While the transportation community has increasingly been utilizing LCCA as an essential practice, several organizations have even designed computer programs for their LCCA approaches in order to assist with the analysis.