Life-Cycle Cost Analysis: The Pennsylvania Experience
Agency Facts
| Although PennDOT's 11 engineering districts are somewhat autonomous, approvals for pavement projects that require life-cycle analysis are the responsibility of the department's central office. |
Pennsylvania supports the fifth largest State-owned highway network in the Nation with almost 100,000 lane miles of pavements. The State has large urban centers but also extensive rural and recreational areas. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) is headquartered in Harrisburg, the State capital, and has 12,000 employees statewide. Pennsylvania's extensive transportation network involves a variety of facilities and conditions:
- 20,000 lane miles of pavement rehabilitation annually
- Average daily traffic exceeding 100,000 vehicles on many major routes, with 100.4 billion vehicle miles traveled statewide annually
- 16 percent truck traffic, the highest percentage in the Northeast
PennDOT has divided the State into 11 fairly autonomous engineering districts, and each district is responsible for the DOT's infrastructure within its geographical boundaries. However, final approval for pavement projects that require life-cycle cost analysis rests with the PennDOT central office.
