Environmental policy for long-life pavements

This article uses life-cycle assessment to evaluate the role of long-life pavements in achieving environmental goals. The success of such pavements in reducing environmental impacts over their life cycle hinges on their ability to serve their intended purpose for their design life. Those pavements that do serve for their entire design life offer extreme longevity at only a marginal environmental cost. However, the return on the initial environmental investment occurs after many decades of use and is often beyond conventional analysis periods. Evolving performance expectations and demand create uncertainty regarding the ability of long-life pavements to reach environmental goals because time-dependent factors, such as technology shifts and functional obsolescence, affect their ability to serve for their entire design life.

Research highlights
► This article uses life-cycle assessment to evaluate the role of long-life pavements in achieving environmental goals.
► The success of such pavements in reducing environmental impacts over their life cycle hinges on their ability to serve their intended purpose for their design life.
► Pavements with a design life of 40 years can offer balanced environmental benefits.
► The return on the initial environmental investment occurs after many decades of use and is often beyond conventional analysis periods.