ABSTRACT
The impacts of pavement use phase on life cycle environmental impacts were often quantified using generalized models, which can result in an oversimplification of the assessment. In this study, we estimate the pavement deterioration and the induced extra fuel consumption (EFC) considering the context-related data such as temporally dynamic traffic volume and ambient temperatures. To have a representative resolution of urban morphology and the highways constructed within the city boundary, we apply an adapted analytical model for radiative forcing (RF) and a hybrid framework combining two different models for simulating building energy demand (BED). This framework estimates the impacts of changing pavement albedo for different urban neighborhoods considering the realistic heterogeneity. The impact of several context-specific factors, including location, cloudiness, shading, and morphology, were taken into account in this model. Then, the model was applied to a case study of road network in the city of Phoenix, Arizona. Comparative analysis reveals that the EFC induced by pavement roughness and deflection results in significant environmental benefits to change in the pavement network system. In urban neighborhoods with low density, the RF effect was a key driver for impacts due to changes in albedo. In addition, reflective pavements create net global warming potential benefit, which is mainly due to the RF benefit being more significant than the change in cooling and heating demand of buildings in the urban neighborhood. The conclusions from this model can support more informed decisions on the life cycle environmental impacts of pavement design and maintenance decisions, particularly in urban areas.
