FHWA Workshop Introduces New Life-cycle Cost Analysis Software
With the introduction of the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA)
new life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) software and an accompanying instructional
workshop, highway agencies can now more quickly and easily calculate
the life-cycle costs of pavement design alternatives. Developed by FHWA's
Office of Asset Management through the intra-agency LCCA Developer's
Group, the new software identifies cost differences between design alternatives,
accounting for both initial and future agency and user costs. Each of
the alternatives compared will provide the same level of service and
performance.
To run the program, which performs both deterministic and probabilistic
modeling, a user must enter the estimated costs for the initial construction
and any future rehabilitation of the asset and the period of serviceability
(i.e., time between construction and rehabilitation). The software also
requires basic traffic data inputs such as annual average daily traffic,
capacity, and hourly traffic distribution. The program automates FHWA's
user cost methology as well, which accounts for user costs incurred
while work zones are set up. This methodology is described in Life-Cycle
Cost Analysis in Pavement Design (Publication No. FHWA-SA-98-079).
Both the user cost methodology and the new software have been adopted
by the forthcoming American Association of State Highway and Transportation
Officials' 2002 Design Guide as the way to perform LCCA.
The LCCA software runs in MS Excel 2000 and has an easy-to-navigate
graphic user interface. The program produces both text and graphic outputs
that can be exported for presentations. Users have the choice of working
with either a spreadsheet or a form interface.
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FHWA's new life-cycle cost analysis software allows
highway agencies to more easily calculate the life-cycle costs of
pavement design alternatives. |
States can gain hands-on experience with the software at the new FHWA
LCCA workshop, which presents the basics of how to conduct an LCCA and
how to apply the results to pavement project design decisions. The workshop
premiered on August 28-29, 2002, in Denver, Colorado. FHWA's LCCA Developer's
Group, which includes representatives from the Office of Asset Management
and FHWA's four Resource Centers, presented the workshop to the Colorado
Department of Transportation (DOT), as well as representatives from
the New Mexico, Wyoming, and Utah highway agencies.
"The course was well received and is very user friendly,"
says Jay Goldbaum, a Professional Engineer with the Colorado DOT. "We
have a strong interest in Colorado in probabilistic life-cycle cost
analysis and this was a great course for getting into that process.
The hands-on aspects were particularly useful."
"We're already seeing high demand for this workshop," adds
Tom Canick of FHWA. To date, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota,
and Virginia have requested workshop sessions.
For more information on LCCA, to obtain a copy of the software, or
to schedule the workshop, contact Nat Coley at FHWA, 202-366-2171 (email:
nathaniel.coley@fhwa.dot.gov).
Copies of Life-Cycle Cost Analysis in Pavement Design can be
obtained from the FHWA Research and Technology Report Center at 301-577-0818
(fax: 301-577-1421).
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Articles in this issue:
Pavement Management Systems: A Powerful Tool for Performance Monitoring
A New Weapon in Fighting ASR in Concrete
FHWA Workshop Introduces New Life-cycle Cost Analysis Software
TIG Announces Accelerated Deployment of New Technologies
What is a Continuing Resolution?
The ADA and Transportation: Improving Safety and Access
on Public Rights-of-Way
The LTPP Database and You
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