Comparative Environmental Assessment of Rigid, Flexible, and Perpetual Pavements: A Case Study of Texas

Lubinda F. Walubita, Gilberto Martinez-Arguelles (), Rodrigo Polo-Mendoza, Sang Ick-Lee and Luis Fuentes
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Lubinda F. Walubita: Texas A&M Transportation Institute, The Texas A&M University System, College Station, TX 79016, USA
Gilberto Martinez-Arguelles: Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla 080001, Colombia
Rodrigo Polo-Mendoza: Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla 080001, Colombia
Sang Ick-Lee: Texas A&M Transportation Institute, The Texas A&M University System, College Station, TX 79016, USA
Luis Fuentes: Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla 080001, Colombia

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 16, 1-22

Abstract: Unlike conventional pavements with a service life of 20~30 years, perpetual pavements (PPs) are designed to have a 50-year service life without requiring major maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) activities. In this way, PPs are more cost-effective than conventional rigid pavements (CRPs) and conventional flexible pavements (CFPs). Nonetheless, even though the economic and mechanical aspects of PPs have been widely studied and well documented, the literature is limited regarding the environmental assessment of PPs. Consequently, this research estimated the environmental burden associated with five pavement structures (one CRP, one CFP, and three PP structures) through the life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Notably, the PaLATE computational tool was used to carry out the LCAs. The results indicated that for CFP, most of the environmental impacts are generated by the M&R activities. Otherwise, for CRP and PP structures, the most impact occurred during the initial construction stage. The study results also revealed that materials production is the sub-stage that most contributed to the generation of environmental detriments. Overall, this comparative case study concluded that the pavement alternative with the slightest environmental damage is the PP structure.

Keywords: environmental efficiency; life-cycle assessment; PaLATE; perpetual pavements (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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