A Review and Recommendations for Canadian LCCA Guidelines

Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) is an engineering tool that is used to facilitate sound investment decision-making in the management of infrastructure. Transportation agencies can use LCCA in the selection of cost-effective pavement designs, and evaluation of future maintenance, rehabilitation, and/or reconstruction strategies. Using LCCA can also increase transparency in the project selection process, ensuring agencies make strategic decisions that maximize the expected value of their investments.
 
This paper reviews the current LCCA practices in place across transportation agencies in Canada and in select international agencies. The review focuses on the LCCA policies of the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. The practice guidelines of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), American Concrete Pavement Association (ACPA), Asphalt Pavement Alliance (APA), and the World Bank (WB) are also reviewed.
 
The objective of the study is to develop a Canadian LCCA Standard Practice Guideline based on best practices. The guideline provides guidance on LCCA for alternate pavement-type bidding. The guideline is also instrumental in the development of user-friendly excel based tool to aid in the analysis of life cycle costs of alternate pavement designs.
 
The study reviewed best practices relating to length of analysis period, discount rate, (agency, user, and environmental) costs, economic criteria method, and computational approach for life cycle cost analysis. Based on the review, recommended practices for conducting LCCA in pavement design were identified and are proposed as input for a Standard Practice Guideline.

Author

Moges, M.
Ayed, A.
Abd El Halim, A.
Viecili, G.

Session title

INVESTING IN ROAD CONSTRUCTION: BUILDING CANADA’S ECONOMY

Organizers

Maintenance & Construction Standing Committee

Category

Maintenance & Construction

Year

2017

Format

Paper

File

 


Thank you to our Premier Sponsors