Defining Benefits from Pavement Rehabilitation and Preservation

Pavement service life can be defined as the estimated number of years between pavement construction or rehabilitation and when the pavement section reaches a given condition (rutting, cracking, roughness, etc.) threshold value. At that time, the pavement section is typically subjected to rehabilitation or preservation actions. The two overarching methodologies for determination of pavement fix benefits are: 1) the extension in the pavement service life due to a given fix and 2) the calculation of the area between the pavement performance curves and a given threshold value. The life extension method places importance in prolonging the service life of the pavement. On the other hand, the area under the performance curve method places importance on the level of pavement distress over time. Selection of the pavement fix type and time with the lowest cost to benefit ratio could be considered "optimal".