TechBrief

OCTOBER 2014 FHWA-HIF-14-012

PAVEMENT SUSTAINABILITY
INTRODUCTION
An increasing number of agencies, companies, organizations, institutes,
and governing bodies are embracing principles of sustainability in
managing their activities and conducting business. A sustainable
approach focuses on the overarching goal of considering key
environmental, social, and economic factors in the decision-making
process. Sustainability considerations are not new, and in fact have often
been considered indirectly or informally, but in recent years significant
efforts are being made to quantify sustainability effects and to incorporate
them in a more systematic and organized fashion.

The purpose of this Tech Brief is to present a summary of the application

of sustainability concepts to pavements. It provides an introduction to
these concepts and how they are applied as best practices in the industry,
focusing on current and emerging technology and trends.

WHAT IS A SUSTAINABLE PAVEMENT?

A sustainable pavement is one that achieves its specific engineering
goals, while, on a broader scale, (1) meets basic human needs, (2) uses
resources effectively, and (3) preserves/restores surrounding ecosystems.
Sustainability is context sensitive and thus the approach taken is not
universal, but rather unique for each pavement application. Furthermore,
a “sustainable pavement” as defined here is not yet fully achievable.
Today it is an aspirational goal to be worked towards, and ultimately
achieved at some point in the future as sustainability best practices
continue to evolve.

Pavement Sustainability Best Practices

This Tech Brief highlights processes, actions, and features that improve on
existing practices. Specifically, “sustainability best practices” are those
that either (1) go above-and-beyond required regulatory minimums or
current standard practice, or (2) show innovation in meeting those
minimums and standards. As described here, these sustainability best
practices do not achieve sustainability, but they are improvements on
current common practice and represent progress towards sustainability.

Integrating Sustainability into Pavements

As a system characteristic that encompasses economic, environmental,
and social dimensions, sustainability is necessarily the highest-level
consideration for an infrastructure system and not just an added feature.
Simply put, sustainability means “consider everything.” Other
considerations (e.g., safety, conservation, ecosystem health, education,
open space) are an expression of (1) various sustainability components,
(2) an order of precedence for those components, and (3) a plan to
operationalize those components and precedence.
2 Pavement Sustainability

THE PAVEMENT LIFE CYCLE pavement system that has reached the end of its
performance life.
Six key pavement life-cycle phases are considered for
sustainability best practices, as illustrated in figure 1 and
Note that most sustainability best practices and
described below (Santero 2009; UCPRC 2010):
processes are interrelated and can have impacts—
sometimes even opposing impacts—in several different
phases of the life cycle.

MEASURING SUSTAINABILITY
In many instances, it is useful to measure pavement
sustainability in order to quantify, manage, or improve
upon current practices. Four general measurement
methods can be used to quantify various aspects of
sustainability:

• Performance assessment. This entails assessing

overall pavement performance in relation to its
intended function and specified physical attributes
deemed necessary to meet that function. Examples
of performance assessment include condition
ratings, pavement structural capacity, pavement ride
quality, and frictional characteristics in support of
safety. Most often, performance is addressed in
relation to the current standard practice, with the
Figure 1. Pavement life-cycle phases. most common sentiment being that alternatives must
have equal or better performance than the current
standard practice.
• Materials production. Activities involved in
pavement materials acquisition (e.g., mining, crude • Life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA). This is an
oil extraction) and processing (e.g., refining, economic analysis that is used to evaluate the total
manufacturing, mixing), including plant processes cost of an investment option over its entire life (Walls
and transport. and Smith 1998). Most State DOTs practice LCCA
to some degree in selecting the preferred pavement
• Pavement design. The process of identifying the
alternative for major projects (Rangaraju,
functional requirements of a pavement, gathering
Amirkhanian, and Guven 2008), although LCCA is
relevant information (e.g., subgrade, traffic,
not practiced for all pavement projects. Various
weather), and then selecting and specifying
software tools are available to assist in the analysis,
materials and the pavement structural composition.
with the FHWA’s RealCost (FHWA 2011) being most
The design of unpaved roads is not addressed in
prevalent (Rangaraju, Amirkhanian, and Guven
this Tech Brief.
2008).
• Construction. Processes and equipment
• Life-cycle assessment (LCA). This is a technique
associated with the construction of pavement
that can be used to analyze and quantify the
systems, including both new construction and
environmental impacts of a product, system, or
reconstruction efforts.
process. LCA, in particular as applied to
• Use. Pavement characteristics (e.g., roughness, pavements, is an evolving field of study. The
stiffness/rigidity, and macrotexture) that affect International Standards Organization (ISO) provides
vehicle energy consumption and corresponding overarching guidance for LCA, but specific
emissions as well as the surrounding environment standards for use with pavements are still being
(e.g., hydraulic flow retention/detention and developed. Therefore, pavement LCA results must
contamination, air emissions, noise, heat be carefully scrutinized since their data sources and
capacity/conductivity, solar absorptivity, sound system boundaries (that is, what processes are and
absorptivity). are not considered) tend to vary between individual
tools and studies. Consequently, LCA in its current
• Preservation, maintenance, and rehabilitation. state can be effectively used to quantify
The application of treatments to an existing improvements made to a specific type of pavement
pavement that slows the rate of deterioration or that but should be used cautiously in comparing two
addresses functional or structural deficiencies. different pavement types due to differences in data
• End-of-life. The final disposition and subsequent sources and system boundaries.
reuse, processing, or recycling of any portion of a
 Pavement Sustainability 3

• Rating systems. Rating systems are essentially opposition to another, or (2) some features are mutually
lists of sustainability best practices with an exclusive. Thus, there are trade-offs associated with the
associated common metric. This metric, usually inclusion/exclusion of sustainability best practices within
points, allows each best practice to be quantified a given pavement system. This section describes a few
and compared using a common unit. Rating key items to be considered when evaluating trade-offs.
systems can vary greatly in quality and use; in its Even if benefits and costs are difficult to quantify, it is
simplest form, a rating system can count every best important to use a consistent framework in analyzing
practice equally (e.g., all worth one point), in which trade-offs to avoid introducing unintended bias. In
case the rating system amounts to a tally of the general, this framework involves consideration of the
number of best practices used. More often, some following:
type of weighting is used where one or more points
are assigned to a best practice based on the level of • Priorities and values of the organization or
its perceived positive impact. Generally, rating project. If an agency’s sustainability goals and
systems address more than just pavements, priorities exist and are clearly articulated, the first-
although several of the more popular ones include order trade-off consideration is to favor the feature
many pavement-related items. FHWA’s INVEST that best supports those goals and priorities.
(www.sustainablehighways.org) and Greenroads However, identification of sustainability goals and
(www.greenroads.org/) are two examples of mature priorities for transportation organizations is still in its
sustainable highways rating systems that include infancy so they may not exist. In such instances,
pavements. other considerations may be more important.

IMPACTS • Performance. Performance, or the ability to serve

an intended use, is the traditional means of
Pavement sustainability best practices can have varying measuring a pavement’s benefit. A common (if not
levels of impact on a pavement system and on narrow) first-order performance consideration is how
surrounding systems, which means that they are not all a particular pavement alternative compares to the
equal. Some best practices can result in large changes current standard practice. However, other
in environmental, social, and economic impact factors, considerations may justify a reduction in
while others result in only small changes. In addition, performance in order to capture other benefits.
there are some best practices that impact multiple
sustainability components over the long term (e.g., a 40- • Cost and benefit. Economic considerations are the
or 50-year analysis period), while others focus on one or traditional means of measuring a pavement’s cost
two specific sustainability considerations and may only and/or benefit, and pavement benefits are
have impact during a single life-cycle phase. For traditionally assumed equal for the alternatives being
instance, a long-life pavement design can impact considered over a given analysis period. To
materials use, pavement condition (thus, affecting traffic enhance sustainability, economic considerations
and fuel efficiency), and construction activities over a should be viewed over the entire life cycle of the
typical 40- to 50-year analysis period (LCA, as a metric, pavement to include initial construction,
could be used to roughly quantify these effects for maintenance/preservation, rehabilitation, and end-
certain key environmental indicators such as energy use of-life. LCCA, discussed earlier, is the typical means
and emissions). On the other hand, reducing emissions to quantify pavement economic considerations.
from construction vehicles only has impact during times • Impact magnitude and duration. For any
of active construction (a relatively short impact over a particular metric, the magnitude and duration of a
40- to 50-year analysis period). This does not, however, sustainability best practice’s effects should be
imply a universal hierarchy of best practices. Rather, considered. Generally, positive effects of greater
sustainability is context sensitive so an organization or magnitude and duration are more highly valued. In
project should select and apply sustainability best some cases, LCA can be used to quantify and
practices that are consistent with its desired compare environmental impacts, but in other cases
sustainability goals and appropriate for the conditions at quantification is difficult if not impossible. In these
the location and time in which they are operating. cases, it may be enough to determine the general
duration of impact (e.g., just during construction,
FRAMEWORK FOR CONSIDERING TRADE-OFFS over the entire life of the pavement) in order to make
Since sustainability is a broad system characteristic a decision.
encompassing virtually every system impact, it can be • Risk. Generally, “risk” means that there is some
argued that most pavement features and qualities uncertainty regarding the impact and cost of a
support sustainability goals in some way or another. selected alternative and such uncertainty leaves
However, it is unlikely that all such features can be open the possibility of less desirable outcomes than
included in a given pavement because either (1) some predicted. Tools that provide a probabilistic-based
features support one sustainability objective but are in analysis (e.g., RealCost [FHWA 2011] and
4 Pavement Sustainability

Construction Analysis for Pavement Rehabilitation principles. Yet economics fails as a sustainability proxy
Strategies—CA4PRS [Caltrans 2008]) can help when external costs are not included in the analysis or
quantify risk due to uncertainty. Some metrics, like current market costs. Environmental impacts (especially
LCA, are only now beginning to incorporate large-scale ones that cannot be traced to a single source
uncertainty into their analysis. or cause) and resource depletion are notoriously
undervalued (if considered at all) in simple economic
• Broad impacts in time and space. Many
analyses. Furthermore, some costs that are considered
pavement decisions and features can have broad may in fact be subsidized (e.g., energy, water) or borne
impacts beyond their immediate purpose. For
by others outside the scope of the analysis (e.g., off-
instance, an open-graded friction course (OGFC) shore production).
may be used to reduce tire-pavement noise and
improve friction, but under some conditions it may
Materials
have a shorter service life than a conventional
overlay resulting in additional construction activity The energy consumption and emissions generated
and materials use in the long-term. While this is a through the acquisition, processing, and transportation of
classic trade-off scenario, it may not be readily materials used in the construction, maintenance, and
apparent if an analysis of trade-offs only considers rehabilitation of pavements impact the overall
factors present during initial construction (e.g., costs) sustainability of the system. Pavement materials also
or in the first several years of service (e.g., 2 to 4 have a significant influence on pavement performance
years). Ultimately, limiting the scope of a trade-off over the design period and thus directly contribute to
analysis may result in unintended consequences. impacts incurred during the use phase.
The risk of unintended negative consequences is
greatest when changes are made that affect one In general, sustainability best practices for materials
part of a system or life-cycle phase, but the effects of typically involve one or more of the following:
the changes on the rest of the system and the other
life-cycle phases are not evaluated. • Reducing the use of virgin material in favor of
various recycled, co-product, and waste materials
SUSTAINABILITY BEST PRACTICES (RCWMs).
The following sections briefly present pavement • Reducing the use of virgin material through
sustainability best practices organized by the pavement improved mix design and increased longevity.
life-cycle phases. In general, most organizational
approaches to sustainability involve rethinking priorities • Reducing the impacts of materials production by
and ultimately placing more emphasis on the social and improving efficiency and reducing emissions.
especially the environmental components of
sustainability (Muench et al. 2012). The sustainability In most cases, if performance is not adversely affected,
best practices described here reflect that and, therefore, these sustainability best practices will be primarily driven
typically involve activities that result in life-cycle by economics. For example, when focused on initial
reductions in any or all of (1) the quantities of non- cost, economic considerations tend to favor RCWMs and
renewable resources consumed either as fuel or as improved production efficiency. This illustrates that the
direct materials, (2) the amount of greenhouse gas key to successful implementation of sustainability best
(GHG) emissions generated, and (3) the ecological practices is to identify opportunities for enhancement in
impacts. The current approach in these efforts is largely which the economics are maintained or improved while
focused on doing “less harm” than previous practices, environmental and social impacts are reduced over the
whether that is to human well-being or to the life cycle.
environment or ecological systems; as a result, there is a
strong emphasis on reducing negative impacts (e.g., Aggregates
energy use, GHG emissions, non-renewable resource Aggregates make up the largest share of the mass and
depletion). However, a process solely focused on volume in a pavement structure (see figure 2), whether
reducing negative impacts can unintentionally lose focus used without binding material (e.g., unbound subbase or
on the greater goal: creating processes that have base material), or as part of an asphalt or hydraulic
positive impacts. cement bound layer. Although aggregates are relatively
low cost and have a relatively low environmental impact
In many instances, decisions based on economic costs per unit mass, they have a significant impact on
and benefits, such as the cost of materials, fuel, water, pavement sustainability because they are consumed in
waste disposal, and operations, will provide a good large quantities, are a non-renewable natural resource,
proxy for decisions based on much broader sustainability and increasingly cannot be mined near their point of use.
 Pavement Sustainability 5

distances. This has resulted in aggregate scarcity in

some locations. Some urban areas that have river, lake,
or sea access (such as Detroit, the San Francisco Bay
Area, Chicago, and Los Angeles) overcome this problem
by importing aggregate to urban processing plants using
low-impact marine transportation. Such practices,
however, tend to shift impacts geographically rather than
eliminate or lessen them.

Asphalt Materials
Asphalt materials, including both binders and asphalt
concrete mixtures, have evolved significantly in recent
years, with increased amounts of RAP and RAS being
used to replace virgin binder and aggregate. Additives
to either the asphalt binder (e.g., polymers, crumb
rubber from used tires) or to the entire mixture (e.g.,
fibers) are becoming more common as owners seek
ways to increase pavement life by improving resistance
to fatigue and plastic deformation and increasing overall
durability. Many specialized asphalt concrete mixtures
can be created to specifically address sustainability
concerns like drainage, safety, and noise. Asphalt and
asphalt concrete sustainability best practices include the
following:

• Reduce virgin binder content in asphalt concrete

Figure 2. Typical volumes of aggregates in dense-graded by increasing the use of RAP and RAS. Both
asphalt concrete and in dense-graded hydraulic cement RAP and RAS are RCWMs that contain asphalt, and
concrete (asphalt concrete: summary of mixture designs by can be effective in reducing the amount of virgin
authors; concrete: Tayabji, Smith, and Van Dam 2010).
binder used in a mixture.
Furthermore, whether obtained from hard rock quarries
• Use alternatives fuels to reduce non-renewable
or mined as sand and gravel from alluvial sources,
energy consumption and GHG emissions
aggregate acquisition and processing affects the local
associated with mixture production. Many
environment and surrounding communities. Aggregate
asphalt plants can use waste oil (e.g., cooking oil,
sustainability best practices include:
used oil) as a fuel. When used properly, waste oil
can replace other non-renewable fuel sources and
• Reduce virgin aggregate content by increasing can be less expensive.
the use of aggregates derived from RCWM
sources, including reclaimed asphalt pavement • Reduce the energy and emissions associated
(RAP), recycled concrete aggregate (RCA), air- with mixture production by adopting WMA
cooled blast furnace slag (ACBFS), steel furnace technologies. Within the U.S., the use of WMA is
slag (SFS), recycled asphalt shingles (RAS), and increasing rapidly (see figure 3), with the use of
foundry sand, all while ensuring that pavement plant foaming techniques currently dominating
performance is not compromised. (Hansen and Copeland 2014). Many producers
actually use WMA techniques without reducing
• Minimize aggregate transportation and/or mixing temperature because of the improved
optimize the modes of transportation used aggregate coating and compaction efficiency they
(barge, rail, or truck). This reduces the energy and provide.
emissions associated with transport and generally
results in making maximum use of locally available • Use additives to extend pavement surface life.
aggregate sources. This includes using polymer-modified and crumb
rubber-modified binders. WMA additives can be
New aggregate sources are often located a great used to reduce compactive effort and decrease
distance from urbanized areas, which eases the societal construction impacts while also potentially
burden of quarry or pit location but incurs perhaps more increasing the overall level of compaction, thus
environmental burden due to increased transport leading to an increase in pavement life.
6 Pavement Sustainability

Figure 4. U.S. fly ash production, use (U.S. short tons), and
Figure 3. Estimated tons of WMA by industry sector, 2009– utilization rate from 1966 to 2011 (ACAA 2013)
2012 (Hansen and Copeland 2014). (Note: 1 short ton = 0.907 metric ton).

• Reduce transportation impacts by using locally • Reduce water use in concrete production
available materials and in-place recycling. This through the recycling of washout water.
can often mean using locally available marginal
• Reduce transportation impacts by using locally
aggregates over imported higher quality aggregates
available materials and RCWMs. This can often
deeper within the pavement structure so that
mean using locally available marginal aggregates
performance is not compromised.
over imported higher quality aggregates within the
• Use open-graded mixtures for sustainability pavement structure (e.g., in the bottom lift of a two-
purposes. OGFCs are being used in a number of lift concrete pavement) so that performance is not
states (e.g., California, Arizona, Alabama, and compromised.
Georgia, to name just a few) to improve tire-
• Improve plant efficiency and use alternatives
pavement friction, reduce tire-pavement noise, and
fuels to reduce non-renewable energy
reduce splash and spray effects.
consumption and GHG emissions associated
with portland cement clinker and concrete
Concrete Materials
production. The Environmental Protection
The versatility of concrete materials continues to Agency’s (EPA’s) Energy Star program certifies
improve with the adoption of technologies that positively cement plants that use energy most efficiently.
enhance sustainability. Still, the major challenge facing Similarly, some concrete ready mix plants are
hydraulic cement concrete is that the production of the certified by the National Ready Mix Concrete
primary binder (portland cement) is energy- and GHG- Association’s (NRMCA’s) Sustainable Concrete
emission-intensive. Reductions in energy and emission Plant Certification program (see
levels are best met by expanding efforts to reduce the www.nrmca.org/sustainability/Certification/PlantCerti
amount of portland cement used in paving mixtures over fication.asp).
the life cycle. Concrete materials sustainability best
practices include: Pavement Structural Design
Sustainability best practices for pavement structural
• Reduce the amount of portland cement in paving
design generally consist of (1) considering the entire
mixtures. This can be accomplished by using a
pavement life cycle when making key decisions
lower total cementitious material content through
(economic, environmental, social, or other), (2) using
improved aggregate grading, using AASHTO M 295
innovative pavement types and materials (described
blended cements (in which portland cement clinker
below) to address one or two key sustainability issues on
is partially replaced with supplementary cementitious
a project, and (3) improving the structural design through
materials [SCMs] such as fly ash, slag cement,
the use of new tools or a better understanding of design
and/or ground limestone), increasing the use of
parameters and performance. Pavement design
SCMs added at the concrete plant, and improving
sustainability best practices include:
the durability of concrete mixtures to extend
pavement life. Figure 4 shows fly ash production,
• Use improved mechanistic-empirical (ME)
use, and utilization rate from 1996 to 2011 and the
pavement design procedures. ME pavement
overall trend suggests significant increase in
design procedures, such as the AASHTOWare
production and use.
Pavement ME Design Software (AASHTO 2012),
 Pavement Sustainability 7

can produce more efficient pavement designs with Construction Considerations to Improve Pavement
acceptable performance by better accounting for Sustainability
specific traffic, climate, and other design conditions
Most construction activities have less sustainability
for the project. ME design permits better integration
impacts than other life-cycle phase activities because
of materials and pavement design, as well as better
construction constitutes a relatively short amount of time
consideration of construction quality requirements.
in the total pavement life cycle and often does not
• Optimize the use of materials within the influence later phases. An exception to this is
pavement structure. Pavement designs that construction quality, which can have far-reaching
optimize the use of materials and cross sections that implications through the end-of-life phase. Sustainability
meet performance requirements while achieving best practices for construction typically include (1)
environmental and economic benefits are allowing sustainability best practices to be used, (2)
particularly attractive alternatives. This often means reducing fuel consumption, energy use, and GHG
using higher cost/impact materials where most emissions attributed to construction activities, and (3)
needed (e.g., the surface layer) and using lower improving construction quality. Pavement construction
cost/impact materials deeper in the pavement sustainability best practices include:
structure. Longer lasting designs that may use
somewhat more material initially but less material • Create, modify, and use specifications that allow
over the life cycle typically enhance sustainability. for sustainability best practices. Construction
Knowledge of fundamental properties of the specifications need to be evaluated to ensure that
materials used and recent advances in construction they are not a barrier to improved sustainability.
practices to achieve specific design requirements Many specifications contain arbitrary barriers that
will help produce more sustainable pavement limit the use of RCWMs, for example, and thus
designs. prevent reductions in environmental savings over
the life cycle. Agencies are encouraged to evaluate
• Incorporate LCCA, LCA, and rating systems into
their existing specifications in light of current
the pavement design process. These tools can
knowledge to remove barriers to increased
provide economic, environmental, and other best
sustainability.
practices input into the overall design process.
Moreover, several key use-phase issues, such as • Reduce the negative impacts associated with
smoothness, surface friction, noise, and stormwater construction. This includes fuel consumption,
management, can be considered in the design stage exhaust emissions, particulate generation, and noise
to help address later use-phase impacts. directly associated with construction activities as well
as construction-related traffic delays and congestion.
• Consider specialty designs to address
Furthermore, the area surrounding the construction
prominent sustainability issues. There are a
site is also affected by the pavement construction,
number of designs that may address specific
possibly impacting residents, businesses, and local
sustainability issues for a given project, including
ecosystems.
structural designs that maximize the use of RCWMs
and local materials, fast-track construction, noise- • Optimize or improve efficiency of construction
reducing surfaces, modular pavement systems activities. This considers improvements in
(including concrete paver blocks), pavement pavement construction that may be realized through
strategies for stormwater management, and the optimization of construction planning and
consideration of use-phase impacts in the design sequencing, management of construction-related
phase. For example, permeable pavements, which traffic delays, reduced construction noise, better
use open-graded mixtures for the entire structure, waste management, and using new construction
can be used to contribute to low impact development techniques and equipment such as two-lift concrete
(LID) drainage solutions (Prince George’s County paving (see figure 5), spray pavers in asphalt
1999). Such practices are typically limited to low- overlay construction (see figure 6), and automated
volume pavements, parking areas, and shoulders. machine guidance, to name a few. At the same
Many cities and some state highway agencies are time, regulations require continued improvements in
now adopting LID solutions as the first consideration the operation efficiency of construction equipment,
in drainage design (e.g., City of Seattle 2009; lowering combustion emissions such as volatile
Washington State DOE 2012), and the EPA organic carbon (VOC) and nitrous oxide (NO x)
continues to strongly support what they call “green emissions, diesel particulates, and fugitive
infrastructure” or LID solutions (EPA 2013). particulate matter.
8 Pavement Sustainability

the pavement. Maintenance and preservation

sustainability best practices include:

• Incorporating sustainability metrics into current

asset management systems. As sustainability
metrics increase in importance, they should be
tracked in asset management tools. This will
provide a means to benchmark measures already
taken against previous sustainability performance
and more readily identify opportunities for further
improvement. Critical factors for consideration in
Figure 5. Two-lift concrete paving (image credit: Peter Taylor). selecting a suitable maintenance or preservation
treatment and its timing includes pavement condition
(and trends), performance history of the treatments,
overall performance needs or requirements,
construction constraints, LCCA, and LCA.
• Understanding the life-cycle implications of
maintenance and preservation treatments.
Understanding complete life-cycle impacts is an
essential element in establishing the advantages and
disadvantages of any given treatment. Unfortunately,
available data are not currently sufficient to support
detailed environmental analyses. However, other
information is available on pavement preservation,
including succinct summaries of preservation
Figure 6. Spray paver used in asphalt overlay construction treatments, applications, and effectiveness (Peshkin et
(Al-Qadi et al. 2012).
al. 2011).
• Improve construction quality. Quality is an • More intensive use of pavement
essential element in constructing a durable pavement maintenance/preservation methods known to
and, consequently, is fundamental to improving its extend pavement life while maintaining
overall sustainability. Improved construction quality pavement smoothness. For asphalt pavements,
can result in a major reduction in the number of some surface treatments and thin overlays have
maintenance and rehabilitation treatments, with a been found to be effective whereas dowel bar
corresponding reduction in negative impacts during the retrofitting and diamond grinding can be used to
life cycle. Furthermore, construction specifications can restore the surface characteristics of concrete
play a key role in incentivizing long-term quality. A pavements.
number of innovative technologies are being adopted
to improve construction quality and monitoring, End-of-Life Considerations
including techniques such as intelligent compaction,
End-of-life strategies have a large impact on the
stringless paving, infrared thermographic scanning,
sustainability of both asphalt and concrete pavements
and real-time smoothness measurements.
because they usually involve a large volume of material
Constructing smooth pavements has both short-term
with significant potential for reuse or recycling. Typically
and long-term sustainability benefits, especially for
sustainability best practices involve (1) avoiding or
facilities carrying high traffic volumes.
delaying end-of-life, and (2) increasing recycling/reusing
techniques. End-of-life sustainability best practices
Maintenance and Preservation Practices
include:
Currently there is limited information that directly
quantifies the sustainability impacts of pavement • Consider design, rehabilitation, maintenance and
maintenance and preservation practices, yet it is widely preservation strategies that allow pavements to
accepted that maintenance and preservation strategies continue to function without requiring an end-of-
that keep good pavements in good condition enhance life scenario. In most situations, continuing to use
sustainability. Generally, sustainability benefits are or reuse pavements in acceptable condition is
derived in the following ways: (1) maintenance and preferable to recycling or disposing of old
preservation keep smooth pavements smooth longer, pavements. Strategies such as long-life pavement
which result in better fuel efficiency for users (Chatti and design, properly timed overlays (asphalt or
Zaabar 2012; Lidicker et al. 2012), and (2) maintenance concrete), and timely maintenance/preservation
and preservation extend the service and structural life of activities that restore or maintain smoothness can
pavements leading to less material use over the life of help a pavement avoid an end-of-life scenario that
 Pavement Sustainability 9

requires further processing or waste. Such activities

extract the maximum utility from the materials
already in place and tend to avoid more costly—and
more energy/emission intensive—recycling or
disposal operations.
• Avoid landfilling old pavement materials.
Landfilling as an end-of-use option is becoming less
attractive because of the value associated with
recycling and reusing pavement demolition products
as well as dwindling landfill space. Landfilling is an
extremely infrequently used end-of-life option.
• Consider in-place reuse/recycling techniques.
Some techniques allow the reuse or recycling of
material in-place such as hot in-place recycling, cold
in-place recycling, full-depth reclamation, and
crack/seat and overlay. These techniques, while not
as sustainable as continued use or reuse, do keep
the original materials in-place (thereby saving on
transportation costs, energy, and emissions) and
allow them to contribute to a new pavement
structure; overall, this saves materials and time
when compared to a pavement structure constructed
with entirely new materials.
• Consider the “highest use” of recycled
materials. The “highest use” refers to the preferred
use of a recycled material in order to extract the
greatest payback in terms of sustainability. This
requires the consideration of all of the costs Figure 7. Recycling and reuse statistics of asphalt and
(economic, environmental, and social) involved in concrete materials (data compiled from Hansen and Copeland
recycling and using a particular material. Under such [2014] for RAP and from Wilburn and Goonan [1998] and
an approach, a material such as RAP, for example, USGS [2000] for RCA).
would find its highest use as a replacement for both
binder and aggregate in a new asphalt mixture SUMMARY
instead of being used as an aggregate base where
the inherent advantage of the binder in the RAP This Tech Brief provides a summary on how to
would not be fully exploited. This approach also incorporate sustainability considerations into the
considers the costs of transporting materials and pavement life cycle. Recognizing that the purposeful
landfilling to ensure that materials are employed implementation of pavement “sustainability” has just
according to their highest value. begun, there are a number of opportunities that exist
today that can help facilitate that journey. In that vein,
• Increase the use of reclaimed material in new several of the strategies, technologies, and innovations
pavements. RAP and RCA have an established that are contributing to pavement sustainability initiatives
track record of use in new pavements, both in new are summarized as follows:
asphalt and new concrete structures, as well as in
unbound base layers. This is illustrated in figure 7, • RCWM use at higher rates of replacement. While
which indicates the usage of these materials in the use of RCWMs (e.g., RAP, RCA, RAS) has been
various pavement applications. Recycling a long-standing practice, the rates of use have often
processes can be conducted on-site (thus, saving been limited by design procedures, technology,
transportation costs, energy and emissions) or off- construction specifications, performance risk
site (e.g., at central plants or facilities). The impacts, (perceived or real), and availability. Recent trends
both economic and environmental, should be have driven owners, designers, and contractors to
accounted for when considering the use of RAP and explore ways of incorporating more locally available
RCA in new pavements. For instance, in some rural RCWMs at greater replacement levels. Rethinking
scenarios, the distance to suitable RAP or RCA mixture design processes, manufacturing
sources (or other RCWMs) may be prohibitively long requirements, specification limits, and construction
and increase the cost or energy/emissions practices from the ground up has already led to
compared with much closer virgin sources. higher rates of use and better acceptance of
RCWMs in pavements. As an added benefit, the
10 Pavement Sustainability

reduced virgin material use and associated can select specific mixture properties for the various
reductions in processing and transport can result in layers to increase the use of recycled materials while
significant energy consumption and GHG emission ensuring enhanced long-term performance.
reductions. The key to successfully implementing
this strategy is to ensure that increasing RCWMs • Construction technologies. A number of emerging
content does not result in an unexpected decrease construction technologies are resulting in the
in pavement performance. production of higher quality, longer lasting
pavements that can have significant environmental,
• Adoption of WMA technologies as standard economic, and social benefits. Intelligent
practice. For asphalt pavements, WMA has compaction, stringless paving, and real-time
received much attention in both technology smoothness measurements are a few technologies
improvement and implementation. Documented that are providing real-time data to contractors.
benefits of reduced energy consumption, reduced These data allow them to better control their
emissions (GHG and others), and improved processes to achieve improved in-place material
construction quality have been primary drivers in the properties and higher levels of initial pavement
expanded use of WMA, and this trend should smoothness. Construction specifications that
continue. incentivize long-term quality and remove barriers to
more sustainable practices encourage innovation
• Increased use of SCMs to reduce concrete GHG
while reducing the frequency of future maintenance
emissions. The concrete industry has continued to
and rehabilitation treatments.
reduce GHG emissions by reducing the portland
cement content per unit volume of concrete while • Expanded use of preservation treatments.
providing equal or better performance. Cement Preservation treatments that use little material yet
manufacturers are producing a greater variety and maintain pavements in a smooth condition for longer
amount of blended cements (AASHTO M 295) using periods of time have great environmental benefit,
SCMs and/or interground limestone to further reduce especially on higher traffic volume roadways. This
GHG emissions. Mixtures containing less than 50 realization makes the use of ultra-thin asphalt
percent portland cement of the total cementitious surfaces and diamond grinding of concrete
content are available and have shown good pavements particularly attractive.
performance when used appropriately. As the use
of SCMs, portland-limestone cements, and concrete REFERENCES
mixtures containing less cement per unit volume
gain more acceptance by highway agencies, American Coal Ash Association (ACAA). 2013. ACAA
significant reductions in GHG emissions associated Products and Use Charts. American Coal Ash
with concrete pavement construction will be Association, Farmington Hills, MI. (Web Link).
attained. Al-Qadi, I. L., A. Salinas Cortina, K. I. Hasiba, H. Ozer,
Z. Leng, D. C. Parish. 2012. Best Practices for
• ME pavement design procedures. Improved
Implementation of Tack Coat, Part 2- Field Study.
pavement designs are being implemented as state
FHWA-ICT-12-005. Illinois Center for Transportation,
highway agencies adopt ME pavement design
Rantoul, IL. (Web Link)
methodologies. ME design is based on a better
understanding of pavement materials and American Association of State Highway and
construction quality and response to traffic and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). 2012.
environmental loadings, more definitively linking AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design Guide Software.
those responses to pavement performance. The American Association of State Highway and
utilization of ME pavement design allows broader Transportation Officials, Washington, DC. (Web Link)
thinking and the consideration of materials and
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans).
design approaches beyond what can be considered
2008. Construction Analysis for Pavement
using a traditional empirical approach, thus providing
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Rehab’ Software. California Department of
• Optimized materials use. Two-lift concrete Transportation, Sacramento, CA. (Web Link)
pavements and long-life asphalt pavements are
Chatti, K. and I. Zaabar. 2012. Estimating the Effects of
examples of design approaches that optimize the
Pavement Condition on Vehicle Operating Costs.
use of paving materials to meet specific needs. For
NCHRP Report 720. Transportation Research Board,
example, two-lift pavements can use higher recycled
Washington, DC. (Web Link)
or marginal aggregate content in a thicker bottom lift
while reserving more durable material for the thinner City of Seattle. 2009. Stormwater Manual, Volume 3.
surface lift, thereby reducing the environmental City of Seattle, Seattle Public Utilities, Department of
impact of the overall structure without compromising Planning & Development, Seattle, WA. (Web Link)
performance. Similarly, long-life asphalt pavements
 Pavement Sustainability 11

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 2013. Green Rangaraju, P. R., S. Amirkhanian, and Z. Guven. 2008.
Infrastructure Strategic Agenda 2013. U.S. Life Cycle Cost Analysis for Pavement Type Selection.
Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. FHWA-SC-08-01. South Carolina Department of
(Web Link) Transportation, Columbia, SC. (Web Link)
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). 2011. Life- Santero, N. J. 2009. Pavements and the Environment:
Cycle Cost Analysis Software. Website of the FHWA A Life-Cycle Assessment Approach. Ph.D. dissertation.
Office of Asset Management, Washington, DC. (Web University of California, Berkeley, CA.
Link)
Tayabji, S., K. D. Smith, and T. Van Dam. 2010.
Hansen, K. R and A. Copeland. 2014. Annual Asphalt Advanced High-Performance Materials for Highway
Pavement Industry Survey on Recycled Materials and Applications: A Report on the State of the Technology.
Warm-Mix Asphalt Usage: 2009-2013. IS-138. National FHWA-HIF-10-002. Federal Highway Administration,
Asphalt Pavement Association, Lanham, MD. (Web Washington, DC.
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U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). 2000. Recycled
Lidicker, J., N. Sathaye, S. Madanat, and A. Horvath. Aggregates – Profitable Resource Conservation.” USGS
2012. “Pavement Resurfacing Policy for Minimization of Fact Sheet FS-181-99. U.S. Geological Survey, U.S.
Life-Cycle Costs and Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” Department of the Interior, Washington, DC. (Web Link)
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(UCPRC). 2010. UCPRC Pavement LCA Guideline.
Muench, S. T., M. Scarsella, M. Bradway, L. Hormann, UCPRC-TM-2010-03. University of California Pavement
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Walls, J. and M. R. Smith. 1998. Life-Cycle Cost
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(Web Link)
12 Pavement Sustainability

Contact—For more information, contact:

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)

Office of Asset Management, Pavements and Construction
Gina Ahlstrom (Gina.Ahlstrom@dot.gov)

Researcher—This Tech Brief was developed by Steve Muench (University of Washington) and Tom Van Dam
(NCE) and prepared under FHWA’s Sustainable Pavements Program (DTFH61-10-D-00042). Applied Pavement
Technology, Inc. of Urbana, Illinois served as the contractor to FHWA.

Distribution—This Tech Brief is being distributed according to a standard distribution. Direct distribution is being
made to the Divisions and Resource Center.

Availability—This Tech Brief may be found at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement.

Key Words—sustainability, sustainable pavement, environment, society, economics, life-cycle assessment, life-
cycle cost analysis, rating systems, asphalt pavements, concrete pavements

Notice—This Tech Brief is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the
interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained
in this document. The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or
manufacturers’ names appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of the
document.

Quality Assurance Statement—The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provides high-quality information to
serve Government, industry, and the public in a manner that promotes public understanding. Standards and policies
are used to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of its information. FHWA periodically
reviews quality issues and adjusts its programs and processes to ensure continuous quality improvement.

OCTOBER 2014 FHWA-HIF-14-012