The construction industry contributes a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions to the environment. This highlights the need for this industry to implement sustainable practices to mitigate its negative effects. Sustainability in the construction industry involves considering project development in terms of economic, social, and environmental aspects (triple bottom line). In the transportation sector of the construction industry, several transportation sustainability rating systems (TSRS) have been developed to measure and promote sustainability. However, studies show that these TSRS have not been developed within a consistent “sustainability scope”. This raises the question of the consistency of these TSRS in measuring sustainability of transportation projects. This study assesses three prominent TSRS to determine how each measures sustainability with respect to the triple bottom line. The TSRS that are in the scope of this study are: (i) Envision-a third-party rating system, (ii) INVEST-a self-assessed rating and, (iii) GreenLITES-an in-house developed self-assessed rating system for the New York State DOT. Results show that while these three rating systems provide different levels of credits/points with respect to the triple bottom line, they all place the highest focus on the environmental aspect.

To date, several transportation sustainability rating systems (TSRS) have been developed to measure and promote sustainability. However, studies show that these TSRS have not been developed with a consistent sustainability scope. This raises the question of the consistency of these TSRS in measuring the sustainability of transportation projects. This study assesses how three prominent TSRS (Envision, INVEST, and GreenLITES) rate the sustainability performance of transportation projects with the goal of determining if a consistency exists in the way these three TSRS measure sustainability. These three TSRS are applied to five transportation projects. The results showed that these three rating tools assess and reward sustainability practices differently. Additionally, results suggest that it may be easier for a project to get awarded in GreenLITES compared to the other two TSRS. Notwithstanding all of the above, a consistency was noted in all three rating systems in the quality of life/social performance of projects. This study helps to inform stakeholders in the transportation industry on how transportation projects perform when run through each of these rating systems. This will help stakeholders to make informed decisions with respect to choosing one (or more) TSRS to assess their projects with and evaluating the results obtained from such TSRS.