Life Cycle Assessment. Life Cycle
Assessment (LCA) is an approach to modeling that quantifies the environmental
impacts of industrial products and processes, and part of an LCA’s value lies in its capacity
to provide decision makers with a comprehensive perspective for considering new projects. In
2009, the UCPRC began work with national and international partners to develop a framework
for LCA for pavement. The goals of this project—the first attempt at bringing pavement
engineers, modelers, and policy experts together with decision-makers—are to develop a
tool for performing pavement LCA and to provide government policy makers with new insights
for decisions concerning pavement projects and policy. The study aims to achieve these
goals by developing a method for quantifying the environmental impacts that accrue during
the pavement life cycle (such as energy consumption and pollutant emissions), by addressing
major questions facing decision-makers (focusing initially on California state and
local government), and by developing a multi-criteria, decision-making framework
that enables consideration of environmental factors as well as cost factors.
Participants in a May 2010 workshop discussed the proposed pavement LCA
framework and addressed key questions about how to practice LCA and how apply its results. Two
publications resulting from the workshop are now available for download and
comment: the UCPRC Pavement LCA Guideline and the
UCPRC Pavement LCA Workshop Discussion Summary.
The Guideline—which has been prepared to provide basic instructions for pavement LCA studies
and to satisfy the study’s transparency requirement—includes three sections: LCA Framework and
Standard Assumptions, Recommended Models and Data Sources, and a Pavement LCA Checklist. The
Summary synopsizes key questions and discussions about LCA practice and decision-making
regarding the framework developed during the workshop.
The study’s two next steps include development of a pavement LCA model
based on the proposed framework and data source, and use of this model to support
decision-making regarding initial policy questions. This work is being funded by
Caltrans and the University of California Multi-campus Research Programs and
Initiatives (MRPI) program, which aims to help decision makers optimize the maintenance
and rehabilitation (M&R) of pavement infrastructure in California. This work is also
part of the MIRIAM (Models for Rolling Resistance in
Road Infrastructure Asset management Systems) project, a California and European
consortium that focuses on the optimization of road surfaces to minimize total
fuel consumption.
Important Note for Caltrans Users: Prior
to scheduling pavement preservation (preventive maintenance or CAPM) or roadway
rehabilitation work on flexible pavement highway sections, the District Materials
Engineer and/or the Project Manager should review
this spreadsheet to
ensure that the proposed project does not include sections active in
the “Quieter Pavement Research” (QPR) testing program. If the proposed
project is within a QPR test section, please
contact Linus Motumah of the
Caltrans Office of Pavement Design before scheduling the work.
To view maps that show where the sections are located, click the following
link: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://www.ucprc.ucdavis.edu/qpsectionsmap.kmz
(or copy-and-paste it into a new browser window for a slightly larger view).
For more information,
contact John Harvey of the UCPRC or
Linus Motumah.