Integration of Environmental Costs in Ontario’s Pavement Management Systems

Abstract

This study aims to quantify the health and environmental damages of emissions released by pavement management activities in Ontario. The construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation of pavement results in greenhouse gases and pollutants which have significant impacts on human health and the environment. Traditional lifecycle costing methods used in pavement management systems do not account for the cost of these impacts. Marginal damages which relate atmospheric releases to economic cost can be applied by decision-makers to understand the damages of activities (such as pavement management) but require careful consideration of underlying factors. Marginal damages from various methods across the literature were adjusted for application in this study. The present work quantified environmental costs for the construction and lifecycle maintenance of five pavement design alternatives based on emissions of carbon dioxide and four air pollutants. Concrete roads were found to have the highest environmental costs (equivalent to 77% of agency costs) whereas asphalt roads rehabilitated with Cold-in-Place recycling had the lowest environmental costs due to the reduction in raw materials used. For the asphalt road alternatives, environmental costs were equivalent to 35% of agency costs. Future work will address limitations in data availability and additional design types. These findings provide insight for further integration of externalities in pavement management systems including of noise, user costs, and use phase emissions.