Cost benefit analysis of the California HVS program

Abstract

The University of California, through the UC Pavement Research Centre (UC-PRC) located at Davis and Berkeley, started conducting Accelerated Pavement Testing (APT) research in 1994. This research is conducted for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), which purchased two Heavy Vehicle Simulators (HVS) in 1994. Since then a significant amount of APT-related research has been completed. As part of good business practice, and for continuous improvement of this research program, there is a need to identify, analyze and quantify the direct and indirect benefits obtained from HVS testing. This paper provides an historical overview of previous benefit assessment investigations. Furthermore it highlights the findings of a pilot study aimed at defining an appropriate method of measuring the impact of and the benefits to be gained from HVS testing by the UC-PRC. This approach has also been tested through the evaluation of a recent HVS study in California. The pilot study included qualitative and quantitative analyses of the benefits of HVS testing, together with an evaluation of the calculated benefit/cost ratio