Environmental sustainability is one of the four strategic priorities of the Department of Manitoba
Infrastructure. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is acknowledged as one of the most comprehensive
ways to evaluate the environmental impacts of different strategies associated with a physical
feature. The Athena Pavement LCA software for highways is a tool that can be used to assess the
environmental impacts of materials production, construction, and maintenance & rehabilitation
activities over a given life cycle period. The software is also capable of modeling pavement
vehicle interactions (PVI) to assess the environmental impact of traffic use phases of a roadway
due to pavement surface roughness and deflection.
This paper presents comparisons of the environmental impacts of various alternative strategies
for a concrete pavement to demonstrate the opportunity to optimize pavement performance and
environmental impacts. The concrete pavement constructed in 2015 on Manitoba Provincial
Truck Highway 75 (PTH 75) has been used as a case study. A matrix of alternative concrete mix,
pavement design, and maintenance and rehabilitation strategies has been used to compare
environmental impacts of those alternative options. The analysis presented is expected to assist
Manitoba Infrastructure and other agencies to better understand and weigh the environmental
implications of alternative roadway materials, design as well as construction, maintenance and
rehabilitation practices and select the best strategy considering pavement performance and
preservation of our natural environment.
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