Improvement of low-volume road selection for paving through simulation

Abstract

At present, in the Republic of Lithuania there are 21,300 km of state roads. They include main roads - 1,700 km (8.0 %), national roads - 4,900 km (23.0 %) and regional roads -14,700 km (69.0 %). On the state roads, low-volume roads do not comply with the rapidly increasing traffic in terms of their technical and operational parameters. Since 1998, gravel road (low-volume road) paving programmes have been implemented in Lithuania. It is planned that the length of low-volume roads in the total state road network will decrease to 32 % in 2015. When selecting low-volume road routes for asphalt paving, solving pavement structure design issues according to the research data of gravel road structures to be asphalt paved as well as the study of local conditions, the enhancement of investment in gravel road paving is expressed through the substantiated reduction of gravel road paving costs and the increase of internal rate of return (IRR). It is recommended solving low-volume road paving tasks on the regional scale and propos the technical model of gravel road selection for asphalt paving. The use of this model recommended to determine real decreasing disproportions among regions according to the scope of low-volume road paving works with regard to the condition of these roads, the intensity of their use, the air pollution, the estimated common length of gravel roads being asphalt paved in the country as well as to increase the efficiency of gravel road paving on the national scale.