Life Cycle Cost Evaluation of Cement Concrete and Asphalt Concrete Pavements in Iran

The pavement is the main and the most important component of a road. Pavements play a major role in the construction cost, maintenance and rehabilitation, traffic quality, vehicle and user costs. They are mainly divided into two types: asphalt concrete and cement concrete. For decision making in choosing the pavement type in a specific project, necessary information and tools are required to compare these two pavement types fundamentally. Therefore, determining the comparative evaluation criteria for life cost determination of each pavement type is needed. This will make a competitive tools for major industries namely, cement and oil industry. Also, it adjusts and sometimes reduces the final cost of roads in Iran and lastly results in cost effectiveness of the transportation system. Based on the results of this study, using cement concrete pavement in areas where the sub-grade quality is weak, lower construction cost is resulted. In addition, in heavily trafficked roads, cement concrete pavements have a better performance due to their higher stiffness and durability. The findings of this study show that in heavy traffic conditions, the total life cycle costs of concrete pavements would be notably lower than that of asphalt pavements.