Selection of pavement structures considering economic and environmental aspects

Abstract

Transport infrastructure is an essential foundation for the functioning of any state’s economy. At the same time, road construction belongs to material- and energy-intensive industries, whose activities are accompanied by a significant anthropogenic load on the environment. Road construction also requires large volumes of natural resources. In Ukraine, the traditional approach to designing and making engineering decisions regarding the selection of pavement structures and, accordingly, the type of pavement, has long focused mainly on minimizing initial capital costs determined by the construction budget. Under such conditions, asphalt concrete pavement was preferred in most cases due to its lower initial construction cost and the technological simplicity of its installation. The works of many domestic and foreign scientists are dedicated to the economic and technological justification of pavement structures. At the same time, the environmental component is more often considered locally (for example, assessing emissions directly at the construction site during the operation of road machinery), while comprehensive studies combining environmental and economic analysis at all stages of the road’s life cycle remain insufficiently covered in Ukrainian scientific thought. The article substantiates the need to apply a systematic approach to choosing the type of road pavement (asphalt concrete or cement concrete) based on the analysis of the full life cycle of the pavement structure — from raw material extraction and production of building materials to operation, maintenance, and ultimate disposal or recycling. A comparative analysis of technical, operational, environmental, and economic indicators of pavement structures for two types of pavement has been conducted. It is proven that evaluating the efficiency of pavement structures based solely on initial estimated costs is inefficient and leads to unjustified financial losses and additional environmental impacts in the long term.