Sustainable and Green Roadway Rating System

Abstract

Road construction is a great investment, and annual industry. Yet there is no international rating system for highways and roads design and construction comparable to the LEED rating system for buildings, or the Energy Star system for appliances. Sustainable highway infrastructure design requires a good balance between environment, cost and social aspects. Green design for roads should have a voluntary sustainability rating system for roadway design, construction, and maintenance. It should be applicable to all roadway projects including new, reconstructed and rehabilitated roadways. It awards credits point for sustainable choices and practices and can be used to assess roadway project sustainability. The rating system can be used to rank, score and compare different road projects for their overall performance toward being more sustainable than an average road project. The philosophy of the suggested rating systems will be based on different categories, each of which explain one sustainability attribute and covers different topics in subcategories. The aim of this work is to study the feasibility of using sustainable rating system for roadway project after considering the local environmental conditions, economy, and materials processing actions available. A questionnaire was designed which includes all the design categories, and was distributed to 150 participant including site engineers, design engineers, pavement contractors, material supplier contractors and road users (drivers and pedestrian). The impacts of roadway design and construction and suggested credits were obtained, these categories and credits are as important as the roadway design itself.