Polymer LCCA - Driven Plastics

Conventional

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35-yr cost, today's $

Polymer (RPF)

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35-yr cost, today's $

Savings

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Return on premium

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CO₂e Avoided

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Plastic Diverted

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How the comparison works

AConventional. The road is paved with standard hot-mix asphalt, then maintained on a standard schedule: crack sealing, a surface treatment, and a mill-and-overlay when the pavement wears out.
BPolymer (RPF). The same road paved with recycled-plastic polymer-modified asphalt. It costs a little more up front, but lasts longer, so maintenance starts later and the mill-and-overlay is pushed out.
=Result. All costs are discounted to present value, so spending is compared on an equal footing regardless of when it occurs. The life-cycle savings equal Scenario A's total less Scenario B's.

Methodology: discounting, remaining service life, and exclusions

Each treatment, including the initial paving at year 0, is a cash outlay in the year it occurs, discounted at a real rate (inflation is excluded on both sides). A remaining-service-life (RSL) credit refunds the unused portion of the last major treatment at the end of the analysis period, so neither scenario is penalized for where its cycle happens to end (NCAT 19-03, Eq. 2). Excluded by design: user costs (delays and detours), agency overhead, inflation, and structural-layer RSL. NCAT's 10% significance rule is applied in the Results section.

The polymer pavement's 6-year service-life extension (20 vs 14 years) and both maintenance schedules come from MnDOT Report 2023-19 (Tables 6.6–6.9). That study compared PG 58H-34 polymer-modified (C grade) and PG 58S-28 unmodified (B grade) binders on Minnesota low-volume roads; applying its life extension to RPF-modified mix is an extrapolation.

Step 1Size the job & money assumptions

Typical values are pre-entered. Replace them with your project's own.

Method basis

What this sets

MnDOT 2023-19: the report's method (Tables 6.6–6.9): overlay lives of 14 yr (conventional) and 17 yr (polymer), chip seal alone in later cycles, the Table 6.8 prices, and a 4.0% discount rate. The report itself used 0.66% (MnDOT District 2 LCCA spreadsheet, 2021-22); enter 0.66% at 1 lane-mile over 35 years and the page reproduces its Table 6.9: $499,989 conventional vs $427,742 polymer, 14.4% lower.
Delta Mist standards: 16-yr conventional overlay (NCAT 19-03 Table 2), 19-yr polymer overlay (+3), chip seal + microsurfacing every cycle, 3.0% discount rate, Standard pricing.
Switching resets both schedules, the discount rate, and the price preset. Edit any of them afterward.
MnDOT 2023-19, Tables 6.6–6.9

Analysis period (years)

NCAT SHA range: 25–50 yrs

Guidance & typical values

Pick a window long enough that each alternative's big rehabilitation lands inside it. Typical: 25–50 years. Default: 35, the FHWA-recommended minimum and the original Polymer LCCA default.
NCAT 19-03 (SHA range 25–50 yr) FHWA: ≥35 yr recommended

Discount rate, real (%/yr)

Guidance & typical values

How much less a future dollar is worth than one today, net of inflation. Typical SHA practice: 3–5% (most commonly ~4%; OMB Circular A-94 publishes federal real rates annually). Default: 4.0%. MnDOT 2023-19 used 0.66% (the District 2 LCCA spreadsheet rate); enter it to match the report. The Delta Mist method uses 3.0%.
NCAT 19-03 Table 8 OMB Circular A-94

Project size

Size the job by

Asphalt mix (tons, initial wearing course)

Wearing course thickness (inches)

Overlay thickness (inches)

mix tons of each overlay (plastic diverted)

Lane width (feet)

How tons, square yards, and lane-miles convert

Prices are entered per ton of mix or per lane-mile (they follow this toggle). Behind the scenes the tool converts both to paved area, so tons, lane-miles and prices all stay consistent. Mix tons → SY: tons × 2,000 ÷ (yield × thickness). Lane-miles → SY: lane-miles × 5,280 ft × lane width ÷ 9. Yield is compacted hot-mix per square yard per inch of thickness. Default 113 lb/SY/in, from MnDOT 2023-19 (1,591 t for a 4-in, 12-ft lane-mile; 1,193 t for a 3-in overlay). At 4 in and a 12-ft lane, 1 lane-mile ≈ 7,040 SY ≈ 1,591 tons.

Yield lb / SY / in

Polymer (RPF) mix

Dosage method

Guidance

Hybrid doses recycled polyethylene flake against total mix weight. Full Wet doses it against binder (AC) weight, blended into the binder at a terminal; Full Wet (mobile blender) uses the same dosage, blended at the plant with a mobile blender. Both Full Wet options need the binder content. Driven Plastics' standard dosage for each method is applied. Drives the plastic-diverted figure only.

Step 2Unit prices ($ per ton of mix, curb-to-curb)

Pick a preset to pre-fill standardized prices, then overwrite any cell with your local bid pricing.

Price preset:

Treatment	$/ton	Source / note

Polymer pricing. In MnDOT 2023-19 the whole premium is in the wearing-course mix: $84.20 vs $80.30 per ton ($3.90/ton, $6,205 per lane-mile at 4 in). The report prices the polymer mill & overlay the same as conventional. Replace both with your project's quoted prices.

Want project-specific pricing? Schedule a meeting

About these presets

MnDOT 2023-19 (default): Table 6.8 (MnDOT LCCA spreadsheet 2021-22, District 2) and the Table 6.4/6.5 initial construction costs, each divided by 7,040 SY per 12-ft lane-mile. Mill & overlay = 3-in mill ($19,512) + 3-in overlay ($95,826) = $115,338 per mile. Cape seal, CIR and FDR aren't in the report (regional values retained).
Standard: Lexington DPW pavement management pricing (ManageMyRoads, 11/26/2025, curb-to-curb only).
MnDOT District 2 (older): older MnDOT statewide placeholders, partial and approximate, for reference only.
Custom: start from any preset and type your own. Any edit switches the preset to Custom.
Initial construction is the report's full-depth new build (subgrade, embankment, base, 4-in wearing course) in every preset: $272,250 (B mix) and $278,454 (C mix) per lane-mile. MnDOT 2023-19, Tables 6.4, 6.5, 6.8

Step 3aScenario A: Conventional

	Year	Activity	$/ton	Cost	Today's $

Scenario A total (NPV)–

per lane-mile · per ton of mix–

Step 3bScenario B: Polymer (RPF)

	Year	Activity	$/ton	Cost	Today's $

Scenario B total (NPV)–

per lane-mile · per ton of mix–

How the end-of-life (RSL credit) works, and why some rows grey out

The analysis stops at a fixed horizon, but pavement keeps its value past it. If a scenario resurfaces near the end of the window, most of that overlay's life is still unused when the clock stops, which is a real asset the agency still owns. So the analysis refunds that unused value as a salvage (RSL) credit, straight-line. Per NCAT 19-03, Eq. 2.

How it's figured (for the last major treatment, which is the initial paving if no overlay lands in the window): remaining life = life − (period − treatment year); credit = −(cost) × remaining ÷ life, discounted to the horizon.

Greyed rows are treatments scheduled after the analysis period. They cost nothing inside the window.

Step 4Results

Scenario	Total NPV	Per lane-mile	Per ton

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Where the savings come from (today's $)

Bucket	Conventional	Polymer	Savings

Negative savings on initial paving is the polymer premium; the later buckets are what it buys back.

When the money gets spent

Each dot is a treatment. The polymer pavement (orange) pushes maintenance and the big overlays (large dots) to the right, or off the chart.

Cumulative spend over time (today's dollars)

Running total each program has cost by a given year, in present-value dollars. Both lines start at the initial paving cost. The step down at the final year is the end-of-period RSL credit, so each line ends at its scenario's total NPV, and the gap at the right edge always equals the headline savings.

Conventional Polymer (RPF)

CO₂e ledger & plastic diverted (physical tons, no discounting, no pricing)

Counts the greenhouse gas of each scheduled treatment, mirroring Step 3. Edit years there, factors here. Initial paving is left out of the carbon ledger because both scenarios pave the same road at year 0. Plastic diverted counts the recycled polyethylene in every ton of polymer mix placed inside the window.

Emission factors (editable)

Factor	Value	Unit
Crack seal		kg CO₂e/m²
Microsurfacing (single pass)		kg CO₂e/m²
Chip seal		kg CO₂e/m²
Mill & overlay, asphalt-only		t CO₂e/lane-mile

Same factors as the Delta Mist LCCA. Derived: double micro = 2 × single pass; cape = chip + single micro. M&O default = asphalt 761.08 t × 0.0254 + base stone 166.42 t × 0.0045 + steel 2.03 t × 1.16 + diesel 1,165.68 gal × 0.01304 per 12-ft lane-mile (7,040 SY). Polymer overlays use the same factor.

Ledger

Scenario	Events	t CO₂e	RPF mix (t)	Plastic (t)

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Caveats: read before quoting these numbers

No carbon credit is taken for the diverted plastic itself. It is reported as tons of material kept out of the waste stream, not as avoided CO₂e.
ICE resurfacing is "pavement-material-neutral" and includes ~131 t concrete/lane-mile from mixed-road bid data. Concrete is zeroed here for asphalt roads.
ICE's asphalt materials factor (~25 kg CO₂e/t of mix) runs well below NAPA's cradle-to-gate EPD benchmark (~54 kg/t). NAPA-basis overlay terms would be ~1.5–2× higher.
Preservation factors are 2010–2015 literature averages; double micro is assumed = 2 × single pass.
CIR and FDR have no ICE factor loaded and are left out of the ledger.

ReferenceAssumptions & math

Every formula and default this tool uses, in one place.

Project size

SY = tons × 2,000 ÷ (yield × thickness)

SY = lane-miles × 5,280 × lane width ÷ 9

Yield default 113 lb/SY/in, wearing course 4 in, overlay 3 in, lane width 12 ft (all from MnDOT 2023-19). Prices are entered per ton of wearing-course mix or per lane-mile and converted to area (SY), so every cost scales with the paved area:

$/SY = $/lane-mile ÷ (5,280 × width ÷ 9) = $/ton × yield × thickness ÷ 2,000

Present value of each treatment

NPV_year = unit cost × SY × 1 ÷ (1 + r)^year

Initial construction sits at year 0 (no discounting). Treatments after the analysis period are excluded. Defaults: 35 years; 4.0% (MnDOT 2023-19 method) or 3.0% (Delta Mist method).

Remaining service life (RSL) credit

salvage = −cost × max(0, life − (period − year)) ÷ life

credit = salvage ÷ (1 + r)^period

Basis: the last paving or overlay inside the window. You can change the basis row and life in each scenario.

Totals, savings & return

Scenario total = Σ NPV_year + RSL credit

Savings = A_total − B_total

Return on premium = Savings ÷ (B_paving − A_paving)

Bonus paving = Savings ÷ polymer construction price

Bonus paving is the extra road the savings would pave with polymer mix, shown in tons and lane-miles.

Standard schedules

CO₂e & plastic

t CO₂e = SY × 0.83613 × factor(kg/m²) ÷ 1000

M&O t CO₂e = SY ÷ 7040 × 37.63

RPF mix (t) = SY × yield × thickness ÷ 2,000

Hybrid: plastic (t) = RPF mix × dosage %

Full Wet: plastic (t) = RPF mix × binder % × dosage %

Initial construction uses the wearing course thickness; each polymer overlay uses the overlay thickness.

Default treatment service lives

Treatment	Life (yr)

Real-world equivalents

4.6 t CO₂e = one passenger car for a year
8.887 kg CO₂ per gallon of gasoline
0.060 t CO₂ per tree seedling grown 10 years

How the comparison works

Step 1Size the job & money assumptions

Step 2Unit prices ($ per ton of mix, curb-to-curb)

Step 3aScenario A: Conventional

Step 3bScenario B: Polymer (RPF)

Step 4Results

Where the savings come from (today's $)

When the money gets spent

Cumulative spend over time (today's dollars)

CO2e ledger & plastic diverted (physical tons, no discounting, no pricing)

Emission factors (editable)

Ledger

ReferenceAssumptions & math

Project size

Present value of each treatment

Remaining service life (RSL) credit

Totals, savings & return

Standard schedules

CO2e & plastic

Default treatment service lives

Real-world equivalents

CO₂e ledger & plastic diverted (physical tons, no discounting, no pricing)

CO₂e & plastic