Effects of Pavement Condition on LCCA User Costs

Author(s):  
Egemen Okte ◽  
Imad L. Al-Qadi ◽  
Hasan Ozer

Life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) is one of the well-established methods to determine the cost-effective alternative between different transportation infrastructure projects. Life cycle cost of a roadway alternative consists of agency and user costs over an analysis period appropriately selected. Agency costs include initial construction costs, and maintenance and rehabilitation costs incurred within the analysis period. User costs incur when there is a work zone present and also during normal operating conditions. In traditional LCCA, adopted by many agencies around the United States, it is assumed that the difference in user cost between alternatives mainly arise from work zone costs. The costs that arise during normal operating conditions (mainly vehicle operating costs) are not dependent on project alternatives and thus are traditionally considered to be negligible. This paper introduces a methodology to test the sensitivity of vehicle operating costs to roughness and texture profile quantitatively and evaluate its contribution to LCCA calculations. It was hypothesized that even the slight changes in surface profile between various alternatives may result in different user costs between the alternatives. A case study is presented to illustrate the effect of user costs of normal operating conditions on LCCA analysis results. Case study showed that vehicle operating costs that arise during normal operation may greatly affect the results of LCCA and should be considered, especially for low-volume traffic projects.

2017 ◽  
Vol 2639 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehdi Akbarian ◽  
Omar Swei ◽  
Randolph Kirchain ◽  
Jeremy Gregory

Life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) is a commonly used approach by pavement engineers to compare the economic efficiency of alternative pavement design and maintenance strategies. Over the past two decades, the pavement community has augmented the LCCA framework used in practice by explicitly accounting for uncertainty in the decision-making process and incorporating life-cycle costs not only to the agency but also to the users of a facility. This study represents another step toward improving the LCCA process by focusing on methods to characterize the cost of relevant pay items for an LCCA as well as integrating costs accrued to users of a facility caused by pavement–vehicle interaction (PVI) and work zone delays. The developed model was implemented in a case study to quantify the potential implication of both of these components on the outcomes of an LCCA. Results from the construction cost analysis suggest that the proposed approaches in this paper lead to high-fidelity estimates that outperform current practice. Furthermore, results from the case study indicate that PVI can be a dominant contributor to total life-cycle costs and, therefore, should be incorporated in future LCCAs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 299
Author(s):  
Ali Azhar Butt ◽  
John Harvey ◽  
Arash Saboori ◽  
Maryam Ostovar ◽  
Manuel Bejarano ◽  
...  

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has taken measures to improve safety, reduce costs, increase resilience, and improve the sustainability of the United States (U.S.) airfield infrastructure by using a life-cycle cost analysis methodology to increase the efficient use of economic resources needed for expanding and preserving the airfield system. However, a life-cycle assessment (LCA) approach for evaluating the environmental impacts of decisions regarding airfield infrastructure has yet to be fully developed and applied. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the use of the airfield LCA framework that was developed for the FAA and can be used by U.S. airports. The comparison of alternative pavement designs at Nashville International Airport (BNA) is presented. The scope of the study was from cradle to laid; materials, materials transportation, and construction stages of the pavement life cycle are considered, and the maintenance, use and end of life stages are not considered. Primary data were acquired from BNA and secondary data were used in situations of unavailability of primary data. The case study showed that performing LCA provides opportunities for airports to consider energy use and environment-related impacts in the decision-making process.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 1172
Author(s):  
Hafiz Haq ◽  
Petri Välisuo ◽  
Seppo Niemi

Industrial symbiosis networks conventionally provide economic and environmental benefits to participating industries. However, most studies have failed to quantify waste management solutions and identify network connections in addition to methodological variation of assessments. This study provides a comprehensive model to conduct sustainable study of industrial symbiosis, which includes identification of network connections, life cycle assessment of materials, economic assessment, and environmental performance using standard guidelines from the literature. Additionally, a case study of industrial symbiosis network from Sodankylä region of Finland is implemented. Results projected an estimated life cycle cost of €115.20 million. The symbiotic environment would save €6.42 million in waste management cost to the business participants in addition to the projected environmental impact of 0.95 million tonne of CO2, 339.80 tonne of CH4, and 18.20 tonne of N2O. The potential of further cost saving with presented optimal assessment in the current architecture is forecast at €0.63 million every year.


2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (19) ◽  
pp. 9517-9528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guangling Zhao ◽  
Eva Ravn Nielsen ◽  
Enrique Troncoso ◽  
Kris Hyde ◽  
Jesús Simón Romeo ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Maurice Hartey ◽  
Thomas Bodman ◽  
Arlene Korn

Maintenance, especially in a Marine environment, is continuous and costly. Life Cycle Management of a Marine Gas Turbine system encompasses many costs, of which repair parts, labor and equipment downtime associated with failures and maintenance are a significant portion. In fact, people (labor) make up the largest component of overall maintenance costs. Investing in people the largest cost driver to life cycle cost has a direct return in the long run, in terms of maintenance effectiveness and efficiencies. Applying and reinforcing knowledge and skills in a maintenance environment translates to improved reliability outcomes, longer operating time, fewer parts needs, and ultimately costs savings. However, given today’s constrained fiscal environment, the value of spending money for training rather than buying more parts or applying more maintenance, may not appear obvious. Such thinking is short sighted, and ultimately leads to reduced reliability and increased maintenance in the long run. This paper will explore these areas, and recommend how training programs can be effective predictive, proactive and responsive.


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