Increasing Life Cycles of Pavement Structures by Lane Shifting

Increasing the life cycle of a system by adopting a proper operational policy is the most efficient way of improving the productivity of the system. Although a better design requires a higher initial cost, and a good maintenance program requires an ongoing expense, the cost of an optimum operation is often relatively low. Pavement systems are not an exception to this rule. A key factor in optimization of the operation of a pavement system is to let the pavement cross section deteriorate uniformly. Lane shifting is proposed as an effective operational policy to increase the efficiencies of pavement systems. The approach is based on the lateral transfer of wheel loads to reduce the damage due to load repetitions under the wheelpaths. On the basis of a parametric study, factors involved in the effectiveness of this strategy are determined and a methodology for a cost-benefit analysis is presented.