A life cycle assessment of in-place recycling and conventional pavement construction and maintenance practices

The application of in-place recycling techniques has emerged as a practical and effective way to enhance the sustainability of agency pavement management decisions for asphalt-surfaced pavements. However, the potential environmental benefits resulting from applying in-place recycling techniques have not been fully documented in the literature. This paper presents a comprehensive pavement life cycle assessment (LCA) model that extends the typical pavement LCA's system boundaries to include the environmental impacts resulting from the usage phase and the production of the energy sources. The results of the application of the pavement LCA model to a specific highway rehabilitation project in the state of Virginia showed that in-place recycling practices and an effective control of the pavement roughness can improve significantly the life cycle environmental performance of a pavement system.

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