WHOLE LIFE APPRAISAL OF ROAD SCHEMES

(This paper is presented in an abstract form). During recent years in the United Kingdom, the decisions relating to the design of road schemes and elements of them have principally been made on the basis of lowest initial cost. Such a procedure cannot guarantee optimum value-for-money overall unless lowest initial costs are uniquely related to lowest maintenance costs over the period of review for all alternatives. In addition the situation has been exacerbated by the implicit assumption, apparently generally held, that no maintenance is required during the design life of a road and hence that the direct and indirect costs of maintenance (such as traffic delay) during this period does not exist. The combination of this lowest initial cost philosophy with the no-maintenance requirement assumption has led to the construction of roads which require maintenance but which have not been designed to be maintained. Thus what maintenance is required can only be carried out inefficiently and uneconomically in such circumstances, or either costly modifications to the scheme have to be made or maintenance is abandoned resulting in more rapid deterioration/reduced life of the asset. This situation is becoming acute because whereas many of these lowest initial cost schemes were built in a relatively affluent period, their maintenance problems are having to be dealt with at a time of economic restraint. In order to prevent this problem re-occurring and to provide optimum value for money in future, whole life costing of alternative road schemes and elements of them must be carried out. For the covering abstract of the proceedings see TRIS 450538. (Author/TRRL)