Preventive maintenance of road pavement with microsurfacing—an economic and sustainable strategy

Abstract

To ensure a good quality level of road pavements, it is essential to perform preventive maintenance before they are irreparably damaged. Treatments for preventive maintenance are a solution that is recognized but still in the acceptance phase; effective models covering different combinations of techniques and intervention times and assessing economic and environmental benefits are lacking. The present study aimed to respond to the abovementioned issues, using microsurfacing as the subject of analysis. Several structures and different interventions were evaluated, conducting an economic analysis over their life cycles and an environmental study evaluation using emission factors. The most advantageous solution included the maximum possible number of treatments of preventive maintenance with microsurfacing applied consecutively. This scenario ensures economic and environmental benefits. Additionally, it became clear that it is economically advantageous to design pavements for longer lifetimes.