The True Life-Cycle Cost.

No matter where each of our roads falls on the asphalt deterioration curve, long-term life-cycle cost is a concern. And for good reason – maintaining a strong and healthy network is an important and costly responsibility. Handling that responsibility well means knowing where and when the right combination of pavement preservation treatments should be used.

And since most of our roads will be around long after we all retire, we need to take a long-term view of the challenge ahead. When it comes to evaluating the overall life-cycle costs of certain treatment strategies for a specific road, it’s helpful to look at the differences between a worst-first rehabilitation approach and an optimized preservation strategy.

This graph depicts these alternative pavement management approaches and again reinforces the importance of preventive maintenance interventions, early and often. Not only is preservation far less costly, but by keeping good roads in good shape, conditions never drop below the “complaint line” (noted by the red horizontal line in the chart), thereby saving road managers and taxpayers a lot of frustration.

While the difference between $37.20/square yard and $63.00/square yard may not sound like a lot of money over 50 years, it’s important to put these numbers into perspective over an entire road network. A 100-mile network of two-lane roads typically equates to about 1.5 million square yards of pavement. A difference of $25.80 per square yard results in a $38.7 million total difference to the community’s taxpayers over 50 years!

Every road network is different, and the best optimized strategies are developed based on the condition of your network. No matter the condition of your roads or where you’re based in the Northeast, our team can help develop the most effective plan for your budget and your network.

If you’re looking for more information on how we can put our knowledge to work for you, request a professional evaluation and we will be happy to help.

To learn more, read about Pavement Preservation In Action or Why Pavement Preservation Is Effective.