The Environmental and Economic Impacts of the Use of Recycled Asphalt During the Preventive Maintenance of Roadways in the UAE

Abstract

AbstractThis article studies the environmental and economic benefits expected from using recycled asphalt pavement in roadway maintenance by comparing the life cost analysis of conventional and recycled pavement. When comparing recycled and conventional asphalt, it turns out that the recycled asphalt cost is 28,060,400 Dhs compared to conventional asphalt's cost of 40,207,900 Dhs. Consequently, utilizing recycled asphalts will save around 12,147,500 Dhs, which is about 70% of the expense divided between the two pavements. This is because the duration of each maintenance process is different recycled asphalt requires 9 steps, which is the same as 33 days, compared to 12 steps for conventional asphalt, which requires 85 days. Calculating the waste from Dibba-Masafi Road is 23,104 m with the conventional pavement shows that managing this construction area’s waste is a challenge within its given rising volume of waste. However, by using recycled asphalt 3040 m of waste will be consumed which is a good amount to start a change in the roadway maintenance processes. Moreover, the assets that should be included in the roadway components, the norms and requirements set forth by the relevant authorities, and the minimal construction cost determined by quantity surveying are taken into account which resulted in the findings of this research demonstrating recycled asphalt as a long-term fix.