A Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of pavement rehabilitation strategies: a Virginia case study for pavement management

Achieving sustainable pavement infrastructure requires a holistic assessment of environmental, social, and economic impacts throughout its entire lifecycle, including the possible rehabilitation strategies. This study applied a unified, ISO-aligned Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) framework to evaluate two different asphalt pavement rehabilitation strategies, integrating Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (ISO 14040/44), Social Life Cycle Assessment (UNEP/SETAC; ISO 14075), and Life Cycle Costing (ISO 15686-5) within a consistent system boundary (A1-A5), according to ISO 21930 standard for Cradle-to-Gate plus construction stages. This structure supports transparent and comparable assessment of environmental, social, and economic outcomes. Two functionally equivalent rehabilitation approaches were analyzed: Cold In-Place Recycling with foamed asphalt (CIR+FA) plus a hot mix asphalt (HMA) overlay, and a conventional Mill and Overlay maintenance operation. Parameterized A1-A5 [PR4.1] modules incorporated primary data from Virginia rehabilitation projects and secondary data sources including USLCI, Ecoinvent 3.9, SHDB 2024, and VDOT 2025 statewide cost averages. All outcomes are reported per lane-mile as functional unit. Results show that CIR+FA+HMA Overlay reduces Global Warming Potential (GWP) by approximately 35% relative to Mill and Overlay, driven by lower use of virgin material. Asphalt mixture production (A1-A3) remains the dominant contributor. Social LCA indicates a 60% lower social risk intensity for CIR. Life cycle costing identifies CIR as the most economical option at USD 207,961 per lane mile, about 47% lower than Mill and Overlay. Overall, CIR+FA+HMA Overlay demonstrates strong environmental, social, and economic advantages, positioning recycling-based rehabilitation as a viable low-carbon, less social risks and cost-effective strategy for pavement management.