ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool to appraise the environmental impact of a pavement during its service life. Typically, the LCA assessor has to make some assumptions and judgments, employ data from different sources, use analytical tools and models, etc., in order to provide information to the transportation officials for decision making. Since assumptions and data from different sources have inherent uncertainty, it is essential to explicitly report the underlying uncertainties and their consequences in LCA outputs. This study recommends an approach for performing uncertainty assessment in pavement LCA. The first step of the recommended approach is to define a clear objective for the need of the assessment. Then establish the scope of assessment such that it is technically feasible and satisfies the assessment objective. Prioritizing the phases in LCA that influence the output and concentrating only on significant phases makes the uncertainty assessment viable. The next step is classifying the uncertainties that prevailed in prioritized phases. Classification supports in selecting the proper methods and techniques that can apprehend the uncertainty. Finally, present the uncertainty results clearly and effectively to the transportation officials. The recommended approach is demonstrated through an example.
