ABSTRACT
The traffic on road pavements is characterized by a large number of different vehicle types, and these vehicles are considered in the pavement design by converting their effects through the use of truck factors which transform the damage they apply to the pavement in the damage that would be applied by a standard axle. However, there is an important number of vehicles that travel with axle loads above the maximum legal limit. These axles/vehicles cause significant damage to the pavements which increases the pavement construction and rehabilitation cost. This paper investigates the impact of overloaded vehicles using a weight database by studying the truck factors for different vehicle categories. The study concluded that the presence of overloaded vehicles increases pavement damage and life cycle costs compared to the cost of the same vehicles with legal loads.
