The economic effectiveness of a wide range of maintenance treatments that are being used in metropolitan Melbourne were examined using the World Road Association's HDM-4 life cycle model that takes into account both road agency and vehicle operating costs. The net present values of each of these treatments relative to the base case of routine maintenance were then determined and plotted against the cost of these treatments to provide an efficiency frontier of the most cost effective maintenance treatments. The results showed that the most cost effective treatments were those that reduced pavement roughness levels to below 2 IRI and that ultra thin asphalt overlays were therefore effective on the majority of relatively smooth pavements in this road network. Traditional rehabilitation treatments using thicker asphalt overlays were effective at higher pavement roughness but were applicable to only a small percentage of roads. The most cost effective treatment for sealed pavements was surface regulation followed by another sprayed seal. (Author/publisher) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E208431.
Samenvatting