An investigation of the effects of traffic flow and variables on the pavement cost by using life cycle cost analysis method

Highway pavement consists of three main layer which are the; coat, base and subbase. Fromthe construction day, the life of the road; (depends also the type of the road) is changing from15 to 30 years. During this period maintenance and repairing activities are very important tofind out the optimum solution among the several alternatives under the constraints of limitedsources.During the maintenance and repairing, the cost of these activities could not be considered as awhole cost of the road, because during these activities the road is open for the users and thereare some reduction in the capacity and serviceability of the road. The lost of money due to thedelays has to be considered as a cost of these activities.The Life Cycle Cost Analysis is an economic evaluation technique that has been particularlyvaluable when there is a need to compare competing alternatives for projects with entailingcosts and benefits that stretch over long spans of time.In this thesis information about road pavement, road infrastructure and types of coating hasbeen given. The LCCA considers the investment cost, maintenance and repairing cost anduser cost while evaluating the alternatives. The history, definition and fields where LCCA isused are investigated. Also in this study the RealCost software which is used in the analysis ofLCCA is explained with details. Using this RealCost software, during the whole life of theroad, the effect of the change in the annual average traffic and annual traffic growth rate isexamined in terms of agency and user costs.Keywords: Road, Pavement, User Costs, The Life Cycle Cost Analysis, RealCost.JURY:1. Yrd. Doç. Dr. Halit ÖZEN (Supervisor) Date: 21.09.20062. Yrd. Doç. Dr. smail ŞAH N Page: 823. Yrd. Doç. Dr. Murat ERGUN