Life Cycle Cost Analysis Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) is a method which allows owners, agencies, engineers, or any competent person to evaluate different alternatives of infrastructure projects. This analysis method is based on the estimated or calculated costs of each alternative over its design life. In applying this concept to pavements, the designer should consider initial (first) costs, maintenance costs, rehabilitation costs, user costs, and reconstruction costs. The designer must also make sure that the different pavement alternatives are designed for the same amount of traffic. LCCA is defined in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) as "a process for evaluating the total economic worth of a usable project segment by analyzing initial costs and discounted future costs, such as maintenance, user costs, reconstruction, rehabilitation, restoring, and resurfacing costs, over the life of the project segment." TEA-21 focuses on the engineering (project) costs and does not directly identify the social costs - air quality, accidents, and noise - which form the external costs of infrastructure construction and management. For more information, see ACPA publications on Life Cycle Cost