Network-level Project Selection to Quantify Virginia’s GHGs through Improved Pavement Smoothness.

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

8:45 AM – 9:00 AM MT

Primary Author(s)

EA

Eugene A. Amarh, n/a

Research Associate
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, Virginia, United States

Co-Author(s)

Gerardo Flintsch, n/a

Director, Center for Sustainable & Resillient Infrastructure
Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
Blacksburg, Virginia, United States
Jeremy D. Lea, PhD

Assistant Research Engineer
UC Davis
Davis, California, United States
Ali A. Butt, PhD

Associate Project Scientist
University of California Pavement Research Center, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis
Davis, California, United States
John T. Harvey, PhD

Director
University of California Pavement Research Centre, UC Davis
Davis, California, United States

Submitter(s)

EA

Eugene A. Amarh, n/a

Research Associate
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, Virginia, United States

Abstract: Pavement life cycle assessments (LCA) are currently conducted on a project-by-project basis and are not yet fully integrated into the routine project selection and prioritization process using a Pavement Management System (PMS). A network-level LCA framework that incorporates a third objective—GHG reduction—as a project selection criterion in PMSs is implemented in a case study in Virginia. The GHG metrics are calculated for maintenance and rehabilitation treatments, covering cradle-to-laid and use-stage pavement smoothness. The VDOTs PMS project selection algorithm and decision trees were coded in MATLAB and modified to include GHG equations to compute the cradle-to-laid global warming impacts (GWI) for proposed treatments in the network. Additionally, use-stage GHG equations linking GWIs and pavement roughness for various traffic classes along the network were integrated. A network-level assessment was conduced on a portion of the 2023 VDOT pavement network—covering all interstates and primary roads, and 9% of secondary roads—with the objective a quantifying a network-wide GWI reduction considering two budget scenarios: ‘Do Nothing’ and ‘Unlimited Budget’, over an analysis period of 30 years. The results showed that above the GWI baseline of 40.3 million metric tons of CO2e (MMTCO2e), the 30-year cumulative GWIs were 48.3 MMTCO2e and 32.0 MMTCO2e for the do nothing and unlimited budget scenarios respectively—representing approximately 34% in GWI savings across the network. The case study showed that it is possible and practical to incorporate an LCA into an existing PMS and perform analyses to aid agencies in quantifying and achieving reductions in GWIs.

Learning Objectives:

Attendees can expect to learn the following from this session:

appreciate the feasilibility and practicality of implementing an LCA into a Pavement Management System
quantify the GHGs associated with an agency's road network and understand how this can help in achieving federal reporting requirements.
Understand the elements needed to implement such a framework in any agency's PMS