Martyr, Mitchlie 2014 1

Martyr, Mitchlie 2014 2

Mitchlie Martyr

Lili Du
CAE 312, Engineering Systems Analysis
Illinois Institute of Technology
6th May, 2014

Transportation and Sustainability:

Can they co-exist?

Abstract
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Sustainability in transportation is an issue that many Departments of Tranportation

have struggled with in the past years. However, recent implementations, as
described below, have made it possible to design roads, pavements and bridges
with less negative environmental and economic impact. These implementations
come in the form of two categories namely Planning Policies and Construction
Policies.

Introduction

Global concerns about climate change, energy use, environmental impacts, and
limits to financial resources for transportation infrastructure require new and
different approaches to planning, designing, constructing, operating, and
maintaining transportation solutions and systems. This paper seeks to provide
information concerning the methods used by various Departments of Transportation
(DOT’s) to increase sustainability in their regions.

Discussion

What is sustainability? For any problems to be identified and solved, this term had
to be defined. The article gives three similar definitions of the term, namely:

 An overarching conceptual framework that describes a desirable, healthy,

and dynamic balance between human and natural systems.
 A system of policies, beliefs, and best practices that will protect the diversity
and richness of the planet’s ecosystems, foster economic vitality and
opportunity, and create a high quality of life for people.
 A vision describing a future that anyone would want to inhabit.

So why is sustainability so important? Scientists, economists, governments and

businesses all agree that foreseen and unforeseen irregularities in the ecosystem
namely: fresh water shortages, nonrenewable resource depletion, global climate
change, and major population increase will ultimately affect our society’s economic
stability and quality of life if not addressed. Taking sustainability into consideration
will definitely affect these issues. In fact, leaders, scientist and engineers around
the world have been taking the idea more seriously.

As far as the term sustainability went, the article sought to apply it in terms of
transportation. The University of Plymouth Centre for Sustainable Transport defined
sustainable transportation as “A sustainable transportation system is one that:
allows the basic access needs of individuals and societies to be met safely and in a
manner consistent with human and ecosystem health, and with equity within and
between generations; is affordable, operates efficiently, offers choice of transport
mode, and supports a vibrant economy; limits emissions and waste within the
planet’s ability to absorb them, minimizes consumption
of non-renewable resources to the sustainable yield
level, reuses and recycles its components, and
minimizes the use of land and the production of noise”

Scientists and engineers’ objective is to apply

sustainability in three ways:
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1. Economy- Unnecessary costs are eliminated to ensure that future spending is

not limited.
2. Social- The needs of all demographics are met.
3. Environment- resources are used so that the surrounding ecosystem befits/is
not left in a worse condition.

They then intend to fulfill those objectives by

1. Reducing Energy Consumption: by using resources that require the least

operations and maintenance requirements.
2. Reducing Consumption of Material Resources: by using more recyclable
products and using fewer infrastructures in their design.
3. Reducing Impacts to Environmental Resources: by using less
nonrenewable resources, and avoiding adverse impact on the ecosystem
4. Supporting Vibrant Urban Communities: by enhancing public health,
safety, and security for all people.
5. Supporting Sustainability during Implementation: by reducing impacts
during the construction of a capital project, or during operations and
maintenance of physical transportation projects.

In order for any of these objectives to be fulfilled, certain practices must be

implemented into design and construction. Engineers widely accept that small
changes which are implemented on a large scale will make big differences in
sustainability.

These practices are best split into two categories namely; Planning Policies and
Construction Policies.

Planning Policies

Research suggests that there are five crucial planning policies that need to be
implemented in order for sustainability to be improved. They are usually handled by
the various departments of transportation. They are described as follows.

Climate Change Policies

Climate change has been one of the biggest issues that we face in today’s society.
While some persons do not accept this as an issue, many will still admit that
changes in the weather patterns and natural disasters call for more sustainable
practices.

DOT’s (Departments of Transportation) aim to address this in the following ways:

 Increasing fuel efficiency in vehicles by purchasing more hybrid cars for the
state
 Lowering carbon transportation energy sources by increasing electrified
transportation systems (trains)
 Increasing alternative transportation systems via buses, light rails and
intercity rails to reduce CO2 emissions.
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 Changing core components in infrastructure to incorporate solar panels and

other environmentally friendly structures.
 Planning strategically to account for natural disaster vulnerability such as
high walls for floods, etc.

Pricing and Revenue Policies

DOT’s are aware that the increase in use of hybrid vehicles and fuel efficient
technologies will ultimately impact the fuel industry. Less revenue will come from
the purchase of fuel as a result. DOT’s have also realized that traffic congestion in
certain areas have been alleviated because less vehicles are actually on the road.

To offer alternative means of generating revenue, certain steps had to be made.

 Road Tolling; to generate additional revenue from the amount of vehicles
on the road, and to regulate traffic congestion along major highways.
 Mileage based insurance; gives incentive for drivers to reduce their
mileage by lowering insurance rates proportionally to the amount of miles
driven in a month/year.

Land Use Strategies and Policies

When DOT’s integrate land use planning with transportation infrastructure decisions
they can help maintain the operational life of transportation investments. According
to research, land use strategies can also work with the feasibility of a transportation
system. Urban transit systems are more successful when the land uses around them
are dense enough and include enough commercial land to spur usage.

Good examples of proper land strategies are:

 MnPass, where MnDOT went through planning process to develop a long-
term plan for the I-394 lanes project to help achieve optimal performance of
the corridor for the next 30 years.
 Interchange Area Management Plan and Trip Budgets, where the
Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) developed a planning process
to facilitate the construction and improvement of highway interchanges.
These changes are aimed at protecting the long-term function of the
interchange, highway, and local street system that goes beyond the
traditional Interchange Justification Report (IJR) in terms of coordination with
local agencies.
 Smart Transportation Approaches, where the Pennsylvania DOT and the
New Jersey DOT are trying to integrate the planning and design of streets and
highways in a manner that fosters development of sustainable and livable
communities. Specifically, they focus on the development of non-limited
access roads as context sensitive roadways, with the goal of creating
transportation facilities that work well for all users, are affordable, and
support smart growth community planning goals.

Freight Strategies
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The transportation of goods is a very important industry. The number of freights

vehicles that traverse the United States is higher than the average person may
think. DOT’s are coming up with new ways to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions from these vehicles. Here are a few examples of how some departments
have tackled the problem.

 Short sea shipping (California): Short Sea shipping (SSS) offers a low GHG
emission alternative to roadway modes such as heavy-duty trucks. SSS also
has the potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions while giving several
other benefits such as reducing pollutant emissions, mitigating highway
congestion, and improving road safety.
 Integration of Truck, Trains and Barges (New York): In order to reduce
GHG emissions from trucks in New York City neighborhoods, New York City
(NYC) passed a Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP), which transferred the
city’s disposal of solid waste and recyclables from long-range trucks to rail
and barges.
 Clean Air Plans/Fuel (Los Angeles): Ports in Los Angeles have created a
plan that will significantly reduce the health risks posed by air pollution from
port-related ships, trains, trucks, terminal equipment and harbor craft over a
period of five years.

Construction Policies
DOT’s are responsible for the construction of various pavements, roadways and
drainage systems throughout cities and sub-urban areas. These construction
processes use vast amounts of non-renewable resources, emit large amount of
pollutants into the atmosphere and produce large amount of chemical waste.
Hence, different policies had to be implemented in order to increase sustainability.

Paving Innovations

There are a number of pavement designs that require the least amount of resources
to execute, while offering the best quality

 Warm-Mix Asphalt: Warm-Mix Asphalt (WMA) technology allows paving

operations at much lower temperatures (up to 50to 100°F lower) than
conventional hot-mix asphalt, which are typically placed at 320°F.
 Asphalt Recycling: Asphalt never loses its structural properties when
recycled, making it very attractive in terms of cost efficiency and material
usage.
 Perpetual Pavements: A systems which consists of successive layers of
asphalt pavements that exhibit the appropriate level of flexibility to avoid
tensile cracking, as well as the rigidity to resist rutting

Integrated Landscape and Stormwater Management

Landscape and stormwater management can be integrated through low impact

development (LID). This approach seeks to replicate the predevelopment hydrologic
regime by managing stormwater at the source before it can contribute to
downstream problems.
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The key principles of the approach are to:

 Conserve natural site features
 Reduce disturbed area
 Minimize impervious area
 Disconnect impervious area
 Implement small distributed practices at the source

Conclusion

There are major concerns all over the world about climate change, energy use and
the environmental impacts that come along with those changes. These changes will
ultimately limit the financial and environmental resources for transportation
infrastructure. Thus, we require new and different approaches to planning,
designing, constructing, operating, and maintaining transportation solutions and
systems.

There are many different approaches adopted by different administrations around

the world, each with their own benefits. The common denominator is that they are
all trying to increase sustainability within their methods, which can only impact our
future for the better.
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