8th International Conference on Managing Pavement Assets REVIEW OF SELECTED ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESS- MENT TOOLS: COVERAGE, GAPS, AND FUTURE STEPS

Sustainability, understood as a balance of economic, social, and environmental impacts, is emerging as one of the preeminent issues in all fields of public policy, business, and engineering. Decisions in transportation engineering, traditionally made based on functionality and economic considerations, are no exception to this trend. Life-cycle economic calculations already form a large component of decision making best practice, and considerations of social issues are still nascent and potentially distant in the future. The integration of environmental impacts into transportation asset management decision making is within reach and is a necessary step towards truly sustainable practices. Numerous tools for estimating and analyzing the environmental impacts of transportation pro-jects have been developed in recent years. Proper use of these tools requires an understanding of both their capabilities and their limitations. This paper reviews and compares eight environ-mental impact tools currently available for the assessment of transportation projects. The review reveals that greenhouse gases (GHGs) are the most thoroughly examined impact, while other impacts are analyzed less frequently and less quantitatively. It was also observed that the design and construction phase of transportation projects are more likely to be assessed than other life-cycle stages such as material extraction, material production, and roadway maintenance. With these observations in mind, recommendations for future research and development are put for-ward. KEY WORDS: Sustainability, life cycle assessment, environmental impact, performance meas