Global warming comes with a big price tag for every country in the world. The 80 percent reduction in U.S. emissions needed to stop climate change may not come cheaply, but the cost of failing to act will be much greater. New research shows that if present trends continue, the total cost of global warming will be as high as 3.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Four global warming impacts alone -- hurricane damage, real estate losses, energy costs, and water costs -- will come with a price tag of 1.8 percent of U.S. GDP, or almost $1.9 trillion annually (in today's dollars) by 2100 (1).  Read More

Is developing a transportation sustainability program and establishing project level best practices (criteria) cost effective?

This question is one of the reasons why sustainability programs have not been well adopted and endorsed by many transportation management, engineering and maintenance representatives at the federal, state and local level and transportation lending institutions. Sustainability-cost effectiveness is an area that has not been well articulated to upper management and key decision makers.
The bottom-line is that many of the transportation decision makers do not care or see the value of sustainable elements, such as environmental habitat enhancement, unless there is a cost savings or perceived value. It is a challenge to put a cost toward increasing lynx mobility via sub-grade animal crossings or avoidance of species habitat. Read More

One of the many challenges facing federal state and local transportation agencies developing sustainable "green highway systems" is the lack of research and the subsequent adoption as inclusions in design/contractor specifications. If new sustainability based actions are to be realized on highways, new approaches and technologies need to be tested, proven and adopted by DOTs. A menu of sustainability based specifications needs to be provided to transportation designers, contractors and operation/maintenance professionals to improve implementation timing.  Read More

Sustainability based rating systems have become quite numerous over the past few years.  It is estimated that there are over 200 individual rating systems for civil engineering projects. I thought it would be informative to share a summary of some rating systems that are or are currently being planned to be used by transportation agencies. It is hard to determine if these rating systems will eventually be consolidated into just a few credible rating systems or programs. Many programs that have been developed are specific to an organization’s operations, environmental needs, local context and sustainability philosophy.  Read More

Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) is a very popular tool being used by FHWA and State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) in an attempt to improve the transportation planning process, while streamlining the NEPA process. The PEL concept is to integrate environmental, community and economic factors (sounds like sustainability elements) into the planning process.  Read More

Highway Right of Way (ROW) represents an unused resource to most DOTs. Instead of using ROW areas for traffic safety zones and utilities placements, DOTs could be using their ROWs more effectively to generate alternative energy. This action would help reduce the consumption of fossil fuel-generated electrical energy and greenhouse gas emissions, which is consistent with many state’s climate control action plans (such as Colorado). Why are ROWs not being used for alternative energy generation? Is it not technically feasible? Is it “red tape”? Is it a lack of management innovation and imagination? Is it capital? It is all the above? Read More