What Pavement Type Costs the Taxpayers Less?
For both the short term and the long haul, asphalt pavement saves money on construction and maintenance. Research shows that selecting the right paving material, like HMA, will result in lower initial costs and long term costs to the motoring public compared to competing paving media. A comparison by the Florida Department of Transportation calculated initial construction costs to be nearly 30% less for HMA than concrete. The department’s figures on long-term residual value of the HMA pavement, meanwhile, were even more impressive: With proper maintenance, the department concluded that HMA’s maintenance requirements, at about half those of concrete, gave asphalt an advantage, the Florida highway officials concluded. Similar savings have been documented in other states including Kansas and North Dakota.
