HEAVY AXLE LOADS AND THEIR RELATION TO THE COST OF DISTRIBUTION, CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE

In November 1979, the Ministry of Public Works and Housing commissioned the Mouchel Group to carry out two studies in the United Arab Emirates. This paper is not a summary of those studies but reports on problems encountered and solutions adopted. The aim of the study was to balance the costs of transporting goods within a regime of legislation against the cost of maintaining the road network, and to construct a diagram similar to that shown in the TRRL report Developments in Highway Pavement Engineering. The availability of data in the uae was compared with that in the UK, and large gaps were found in the normally expected data. These gaps were filled by means of: assignment and classified counts, axle load survey, calculation of standard axles by road link, estimation of distributions carried by vehicle type, road damage survey, operators costs by vehicle type, calculation of new operators costs, construction costs, calculation of new highway costs. The method adopted for costing pavement damage is presented in tabulated form, and a chart brings together the cost of vehicle operation and maintenance/construction for the various growth and loading assumptions and axle load limits examined. (Author/TRRL)