Informing Roadway Sustainability Practices by Using Greenroads Certified Project Data

Abstract

The rapid growth in popularity of sustainable roadway certification systems suggests that a holistic evaluation of rating systems and a retrospective examination of sustainable roadway practices are warranted. Regardless of underlying sustainability definitions guiding any transportation project rating system, literature reveals that there is little consensus on how rating systems should ultimately weigh human, environmental, and economic needs relative to each other. This research is the first effort to use documented project certification data, a unique data set consisting of 28 Greenroads certified projects, to investigate the state of practice of sustainability rating systems and sustainable construction practices. By using quantitative and qualitative analyses, this study identifies and explores common strategies used by project teams to achieve sustainability under the Greenroads rating system. This study argues that sustainable projects make a quantifiable difference in performance compared with typical projects. However, projects that pursue independent third-party sustainability certification should strategize their expectations and manage performance expectations accordingly because this research shows that self-evaluations overestimate final scores by an average of 15%. Although the Greenroads framework allows for many combinations of scores, certified projects exhibit score breakdowns similar to both the rating system and other certified projects. Because the majority of points awarded by Greenroads is limited to a subset of core credits, this study proposes that sustainable practices revolve around current standards of practice, perceived practicality, or economic benefits. Future research should focus on identifying similar patterns in other roadway sustainability rating systems to explore the gap between sustainable knowledge and practice.

A systematic review of indicators to assess the sustainability of road infrastructure projects

“…Bueno et al [8] elaborate it into (i) rating systems and certification, and (ii) frameworks, models, and guidelines. First, the rating system and certification contain a collection of best practices to incorporate sustainability into road projects [49]. This tool is associated with a standard metric of points or credits that are used to evaluate and compare the sustainability elements of projects (e.g., pollutant loading in stormwater runoff, pavement design life, recycled material uses, pedestrian access).…”

Analysis of key factors influencing green highway project development focusing on network interaction and project success: evidence from China

“…Li et al (2013) established a method to systematically evaluate the effectiveness of the public participation, or even the whole project, through the measurement of stakeholder satisfaction. Lew et al (2016) argued that sustainable projects produce quantifiable differences in performance compared with typical projects, and the attitude of managers to adopt an evaluation system should be noted.…”

“…This not only means that the difficulty of tasks at each stage of project design, construction and operation is increased, but also more stakeholders with different professional and knowledge are required to participate. Clear understanding and behavior of these project participants on the objectives of different stages has a direct impact on the success of green highway projects (Lew et al, 2016). As such, effective measures need to be taken to promote the success of green highway projects.…”

Sustainability rating system for highway design:—A key focus for developing sustainable cities and societies in Nigeria

“…There are research attempts to develop assessment criteria for highway design, for instance, using a checklist as a practical sustainability tool (Tsai and Chang, 2012;Nigeria Highway Manual Part 1 Design, 2013). However, when considering the absence of a dedicated sustainability assessment rating system for highway design, critics continue to question the strategies and effectiveness of the proposed sustainability assessment of highway design (Cottril and Derrible, 2015;Lew 2016). This criticism led to other scrutiny concerning-why the bulk of highway design sustainability assessment indicators were modelled based on the building construction sustainability rating system called the-'Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design' (Tsai and Chang, 2012;Mattinzioli et al, 2020).…”