Life Cycle Assessment of Flexible and Rigid Pavements in Maharashtra – a Case Study

The rapid growth of road infrastructure in India has significantly increased energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and natural resource use associated with pavement construction and maintenance. In rural and semi-urban regions, where road connectivity is expanding rapidly, the selection of pavement type plays a crucial role in determining long-term environmental and economic sustainability. This study presents a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of two commonly adopted pavement systems—rigid (cement concrete) and flexible (bituminous)—constructed in rural areas of Maharashtra, India. A cradle-to-grave framework was adopted, covering material production, transportation, construction, use, maintenance, and end-of-life stages. Primary data were collected from two real road projects and combined with India-specific embodied energy and carbon emission coefficients to estimate energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, and resource utilization per kilometre of road. Results indicate that although rigid pavements involve relatively higher initial material-related energy due to cement usage, their longer design life and minimal maintenance requirements result in substantially lower annualized energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions compared to flexible pavements. The study concludes that rigid pavements represent a more sustainable alternative for long-term rural road development and emphasizes the importance of integrating LCA-based methodologies into pavement planning and policy-making.