Quantification of Traffic Impact on Pavement Damage for Axle-Weight-Distance Based Road Charge

This study developed a methodology to allocate asphalt pavement damage cost induced by truck using mechanistic-empirical (M-E) pavement analysis procedure. Load equivalency factors (LEFs) were developed from M-E analysis and used to convert truck traffic to the number of equivalent single axle loads (ESALs) that would yield the same impact on pavement. Pavement life was predicted using Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) data and typical pavement designs in New Jersey. Life-cycle cost analysis was performed to derive the unit pavement damage cost in average. The results indicate that the unit pavement damage costs are in the range of $0.005-$0.04 per ESAL-mile for the Interstate highway and $0.05-$0.61 per ESAL-mile for the minor road, depending on discount rate, pavement structure, and rehabilitation strategy. The analysis of pavement damage cost caused by an individual truck clearly indicates that a truck having the same gross vehicle weight (GVW) but different axle configurations could cause significantly different pavement damage cost. The developed methodology allows allocating costs to different trucks that commensurate with their respective contributions to pavement damage and developing an axle-weight-distance based road charge structure.