Incorporating Sustainability Considerations into the Transportation Asset Management Process

The strategic, network and project-level decisions supported by transportation infrastructure asset management have many technical, economic, social and environmental impacts over the life-cycle of the transportation infrastructure. The assessment of these impacts over the whole life of the infrastructure systems is necessary for making informed decisions on how to define policies, allocate resources, select projects, and/or design and construct these projects in a sustainable manner. The paper proposes that the approach to evaluate potential transportation projects, programs and strategic plans on the basis of a combination of engineering and economic criteria is no longer sufficient if decision makers want to assure the long-term sustainability of transportation systems. To support sustainable development, transportation asset management decisions should be constructed over three pillars: economic development, ecological sustainability, and social desirability. The assessment of these three aspects has been placed under the umbrella of life-cycle management. Current practice typically includes the consideration of technical and economic issues through life cycle cost analysis (LCCA). Environmental aspects are increasingly being considered though life cycle assessment (LCA) and although the inclusion of social aspects is in its infancy, they should not be neglected. The consideration of environmental and social goals in conjunction with economic considerations promises to enhance transportation infrastructure asset management while promoting sustainable transportation infrastructure systems.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Flintsch, Gerardo W
  • Wu, Zheng
  • Chen, Chen
  • Medina Flintsch, Alejandra
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 88th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2009-1-11 to 2009-1-15
• Date: 2009

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: DVD
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 13p
• Monograph Title: TRB 88th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers DVD

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Asset management; Economic development; Infrastructure; Life cycle analysis; Life cycle costing; Pavement management systems; Strategic planning; Sustainable development
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Highways; Pavements; I20: Design and Planning of Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01125417
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 09-1337
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Mar 30 2009 1:36PM