This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Politics & Government

So Many Bad Roads, So Little Money For Repairs

CT DOT asks for diagnostic tests of highways and roads to help determine schedules of repair.

Had Benjamin Franklin helmed a transportation department, he likely would have endorsed life cycle budgeting—after all an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. 

According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, transportation departments nationwide could be more effective and efficient if they implement Life Cycle Cost Analysis, or “LCCA.” Also known as life cycle budgeting, the tool allows policymakers to more easily plan for a project’s full cost, said Patrick Reardon, executive director for the northeast region at Portland Cement Association.

“Otherwise it’s like chasing your tail around,” Reardon said. “It’s like the Dutch Boy sticking his finger in the dike to plug a hole: You’re never looking to the future if you just keep patching potholes.”

Find out what's happening in New Canaanwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Federal Highway Administration has advocated for LCCA since 1991. MIT’s Concrete Sustainability Hub also advocates it through its website.

The U.S. Interstate Highway System came of age decades ago. Many roads across the nation are 60 years old or more. And with the number of plans underway across the state, from the Interstate 95 New Haven crossing to Merritt Parkway improvements, LCCA is widely seen as necessary.

Find out what's happening in New Canaanwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Maybe we don’t call it ‘life cycle budgeting’ but we do analyze our projects,” said Kevin Nursick, spokesman for Connecticut Department of Transportation. “A perfect example of that is the several hundreds of miles of roads we pave every year based on life cycle analysis. We make maintenance decisions based on that analysis.”

Hence the DOT asked the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering to run a statewide diagnostic test of sorts.

“We were asked by the state to develop a system to prioritize projects,” said Rick Strauss, the academy’s executive director. “That puts the state’s needs on somewhat of an objective plan for any project.” 

During the 2011 legislative session, the General Assembly bonded several transportation related projects. Among them: $13 million interstate highway program for FY 12 and $14.95 million for FY 13. It bonded $33 million each in FY 12 and FY 13 for state bridge improvement, rehabilitation, and replacement.

The state also bonded $66.150 million for FY 12 and $64.129 million for FY 13 for Fix-It-First bridge repair. And it bonded $39.146 million for FY 12 and $57.6 million for FY 13 for Fix-It-First road repair programs.

“Fix-it-First is basically a mentality we have at the DOT that says fix the leaky roof first before getting the fancy new kitchen,” Nursick said.

For example, the annual paving schedule must be maintained before a new road gets laid.

“Everyone understands there are limited resources with the economic slowdown,” Nursick said. “We’re driven by a newer mindset and we have to be more focused on fixing existing infrastructure first.”

In addition, transportation departments can adopted the Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide, MEPDG, to further fine-tune projects not by region, Reardon said.

MEPDG allows for the input various factors including weather, average daily traffic, and the percentage of heavy trucks, environmental factors and design. All this gets calculated to get a sense for what life-cycle costs would be for a road depending on where its located. For example, the life cycle cost for the part of I-95 would differ than Route 7, and not simply because of size and use but also because if geography.

However, running the numbers isn’t easy in Connecticut with its fickle New England weather, Strauss said. Predicting costs can also be tough because of constant advances in materials and technologies. One has to have confidence in the life-cycle projection costs.

“If it were 59 degrees and sunny everyday it might be a little easier to predict,” Strauss said. “But look at last winter, the roads took a beating. There are all these factors to deal with. It’s a little more complex than just saying ‘Oh, here it is!’ ”

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?