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December 2011
NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM
Senior Program Officer: Nanda Srinivasan
Research Results Digest 365
SUSTAINABLE PAVEMENT MAINTENANCE PRACTICES
This digest contains excerpts from a study conducted for NCHRP Project
20-05, "Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems." The study
was conducted by Susan L. Tighe, University of Waterloo, Waterloo,
Ontario, Canada, and Douglas D. Gransberg, Iowa State University,
Ames, Iowa. Jo Allen Gause is the Senior Program Officer for this study.
SUMMARY agencies recognize and practice the con-
cepts of pavement preservation, there is no
Today's transportation agencies, faced
regulatory differentiation between it and
with the difficulty of meeting pavement
maintenance as compared with the United
maintenance and performance goals with
States. Pavement preservation promotes
limited budgets, are further challenged to
ensure that their efforts contribute to their environmental sustainability by conserv-
organizations' desire for environmental ing energy, virgin materials, and reducing
C O N T E N T S
sustainability. In 1987, the Bruntdland greenhouse gases by keeping good roads
Summary, 1
Commission provided the following global good. Therefore, the foundation of a sus-
Introduction, 3 definition for sustainability: "Sustainable tainable pavement maintenance program is
Synthesis Objective, 3
Background, 3 development is development that meets the to commit personnel and resources to pave-
Key Definitions, 4
needs of the present without compromising ment preservation.
Sustainability Impact Factor
Areas, 5 the ability of future generations to meet Currently, public agencies in the United
Study Approach, 6
their own needs." Sustainable transporta- States and Canada have done little to extend
Summary of Literature Review tion according to the FHWA is defined as the knowledge gained from research and
and Survey and Results, 6
Introduction, 6 ". . . providing exceptional mobility and practice in sustainable highway project
Opportunities to Implement
access in a manner that meets development delivery beyond construction completion
Sustainability in Maintenance, 7
Sustainability Within Agency needs without compromising the quality of and into the pavement preservation and
Maintenance Programs, 9
Summary, 10 life of future generations. A sustainable maintenance phase of a road's life cycle.
transportation system is safe, healthy, Therefore, there are many opportunities for
Quantifying Environmental
Sustainability in Pavement affordable, renewable, operates fairly, and future research and enormous potential for
Preservation and Maintenance, 10
Introduction, 10 limits emissions and the use of new and agencies to accrue benefits in this area of
Summary, 13 nonrenewable resources." practice. These potential benefits are diverse
Case Studies, 13 This synthesis reports on the state of and of strategic importance as they encom-
Case Study Descriptions, 13
Results from Case Studies, 20 the practice in sustainable pavement main- pass improvements to virgin material usage,
Summary, 22 tenance and preservation. It is concerned alternative material usage, pavement in-
Conclusions and Future and directed at quantifying and understand- service monitoring and management, noise,
Research Needs, 22
Conclusions, 22 ing how pavement maintenance and preser- air quality, water quality, and energy usage.
Future Research Needs, 22 vation practices minimize environmental Treatments identified in this report are pri-
References, 23 impacts. The FHWA differentiates between marily related to preservation and mainte-
Glossary of Acronyms pavement preservation and pavement main- nance. However, these are not exclusive to
and Terms, 25 tenance and uses this to allocate federal preservation and maintenance and can be
Appendices A and B, 26 funds accordingly. Although Canadian used in pavement rehabilitation.
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The synthesis provides the summary results of preservation and maintenance context is both
a comprehensive literature review, a survey of U.S. missing and required.
state and Canadian provincial highway agencies, · The case studies demonstrate that environmen-
and presentation of eight case studies of agencies tal sustainability can be incorporated into pave-
that are implementing environmental sustainability ment preservation and maintenance practices.
programs that involve pavement preservation and
One purpose of this synthesis study was to iden-
maintenance practices. Although the highlighted tify gaps in the knowledge of sustainable pavement
case studies primarily focus on environmental sus- preservation and maintenance treatments and suggest
tainability and how it relates to pavement design and possible research to address these gaps. Following is
pavement construction, they provide an excellent a summary of the seven major research needs pre-
basis for future application to pavement preservation sented in the report:
and maintenance treatment. The survey was issued
to state and provincial maintenance engineers in the · There is a need for pavement preservation
United States and Canada. A total of 49 responses and maintenance-specific research to furnish
were received, 42 from U.S. state departments of agency pavement maintenance engineers with
transportation (DOTs) and 7 from Canadian provin- the fundamental data on the relative environ-
cial ministries of transportation, yielding response mental sustainability of common treatments.
rates of 84% and 70%, respectively. The eight case · There is a need to develop pavement preserva-
studies of sustainable pavement programs included tion and maintenance-specific life-cycle assess-
four U.S. DOTs (Arizona, New York, Oregon, and ment and cost analysis methods that include
Washington State), the Ministry of Transportation values for factors such as carbon sequestration,
in Ontario (MTO), the city of Philadelphia, a Penn- resource renewability, and other salient ele-
sylvania state-level program for sustainable dirt ments of environmental sustainability to furnish
and gravel road maintenance, and the New Zealand a rational approach to treatment selection.
Transport Agency. Each case study demonstrates · Research is needed to develop training and
promotion of environmental performance utilized information to be disseminated throughout the
by the agency that also provides technical and eco- United States and Canada that quantifies the
nomic benefits. importance of preservation and maintenance
The major conclusions identified in this report treatments in the environmental sustainability
are summarized as follows: impact factor areas discussed in this report.
· There is a need to complete research in adapt-
· Environmental sustainability research that is ing recycled and alternate materials for use
related specifically to post-construction oper- in pavement preservation and maintenance
ations is an emerging field. treatments.
· Thin asphalt overlays are the most prevalent · There is a need for research to identify and
preventive maintenance treatment for asphalt develop appropriate noise standards for pave-
and composite pavements. ment preservation and maintenance operations
· Diamond grinding and joint sealing are the and life-cycle assessment.
most commonly used treatments for concrete · There is a specific need for research to quantify
pavements. the contribution that crack sealing makes to
· Regrading and regraveling are the most preva- the environmental sustainability of all types of
lent treatments for graveled roads, whereas chip pavement surfaces to demonstrate its impor-
seals are the preferred treatment for surface- tance in sustainable pavement preservation and
treated roads. maintenance.
· Quantification of sustainability with pavement · There is a need to research policies, technology,
preservation and maintenance programs is not materials, specifications, standards, equipment,
commonly practiced in the United States and capacity-building, recycling/waste reduction,
Canada. emissions reduction (air pollution), and life-
· Various construction and design sustainability cycle cost analysis. In this regard, it is necessary
initiatives are available in the literature; how- to incorporate sustainable pavement mainte-
ever, an assessment tool to properly quantify nance elements into on-going and future pave-
environmental sustainability in the pavement ment maintenance research.
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