Effect of pavement surface conditions on sustainable transport

Abstract

This chapter deals with the effect of pavement surface conditions on transport costs, including Vehicle Operating Costs (VOC) and damage to transported goods. The chapter starts with a brief introduction on the need for economic analysis of pavement projects in the context of sustainable pavement management strategies. Then, various user costs are presented, focusing on those cost components that are specifically affected by pavement surface conditions. These include fuel consumption, repair and maintenance, and tire wear (vehicle operating costs), and damage to transported goods/packaging costs (non-vehicle operating costs). The discussion differentiates between empirical and mechanistic models putting a vision for future mechanistic-based models. Finally, a section on trends in emerging vehicle and tire technology and how they affect future costs is presented. The discussion does not include details on the effect of pavement conditions on changes in travel time, safety-related or other implications of pavement conditions.