Evaluation of Tools for Incorporating Road User Costs in Pavement Rehabilitation Decision Making on Rural Highways in Saskatchewan

This study is part of an effort to incorporate road user costs and economic impacts into the current asset management system in the network level pavement rehabilitation decision-making process. MicroBENCOST and HDM-4 (Highway Development and Management Model), which are widely used in the road user cost estimation process in North America, are used to calculate user costs, benefits and benefit-cost ratio and results are evaluated. The outputs generated from the two programs are analyzed and compared when the input conditions are consistent for both programs. Several critical input parameters which have a significant influence on the major outputs are identified. In addition, two statistical correlation models based on the outputs of the two programs, which provide a simple and fast way to calculate user benefits, are developed.