Research Will Help Highway Planners Make Choices Based on Life-Cycle Costs

Posted: May 23, 2024

Research at the University of Utah will help transportation planners and designers make design choices based on long-term maintenance costs as well as up-front construction and installation costs. In an initial phase of the study, the researchers identified four potential topics for further exploration: 1) barrier type, 2) drainage, 3) cross sectional elements and temporary traffic control, and 4) intersections and interchange form and design. Discussions with the technical committee led to an initial big-picture analysis of barrier systems and related costs. In a case study, the researchers reviewed 10 years of detailed barrier-related work order data and transactional expenses from internal tracking and accounting systems. Their work will provide insight into improved maintenance data collection and identify issues and potential difficulties in tracking asset costs over time for conducting life-cycle costs analysis and evaluation of design alternatives.

Incorporating Maintenance Costs and Considerations into Highway Design Decisions
MPC-23-494

Lead Investigators

Richard Porter, Ph.D.
former University of Utah faculty

Juan Medina, Ph.D.
University of Utah