United States Department of Transportation
i
Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach for Building Resilient and Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure
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2020-01-15
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[PDF-2.34 MB]
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Edition:Final Report
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Abstract:This project developed and validated a multi criteria decision making approach for enhancing the longevity of pavement infrastructure built on problematic expansive soils. Expansive soils swell and shrink with changes in moisture content, causing pavements to crack or heave. As of current state of practice, more than 25 state transportation agencies have either started recognizing or identifying this heave induced stress in their highway projects. These states are predominantly in Western, Midwestern and Southwestern United States. A recent study found that the annual cost of damage to constructed facilities owing to expansive clays in the United States was approximately $13 billion, and a significant portion of this amount can be attributed to damages sustained by pavement infrastructure. With continuing pressure on transportation agencies across the nation, several treatment approaches were attempted to mitigate the damage induced due to swell-shrink of the expansive soils. Despite the efforts there are still failures happening in many places, and this can be mainly attributed to not accounting all the parameters in performance evaluation. This project will develop a multi criteria decision making approach in evaluating the pavement performance by accounting different variables including type of stabilizer, characterization of expansive soils, curing period, life cycle cost analyses including user costs and agency costs, environmental effects, and performance monitoring data. The developed comprehensive approach will provide the best stabilizer that can provide a long sustaining resilient pavement infrastructure. The developed approach will be validated by studying three different treatments to stabilize expansive soils in Texas. The proposed research is of significant importance to Federal and State Highway Agencies as well as the construction industry at large. Any reductions in maintenance costs will be considered as huge savings to transportation agencies and these savings could be invested in other transportation needs.
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