Development of an Implementation Plan for Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure Systems in Iowa, 21-SPR1-006, 2024

(2024) Development of an Implementation Plan for Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure Systems in Iowa, 21-SPR1-006, 2024. Transportation, Department of

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Abstract

The need to incorporate sustainability principles and practices is increasing due to both environmental and economic reasons. It is critical to identify and operationalize sustainability strategies into core administrative, planning, design, construction, operational, and maintenance activities for the transportation infrastructure systems using a comprehensive systems approach and the integration of sustainability in decision-making processes. The primary goal of this study is to develop an implementation plan for achieving more sustainable transportation infrastructure systems for Iowa DOT and local road agencies. The specific objective of this research is to develop a systemic methodology for identifying the best sustainable practices for implementation in transportation infrastructure practices in Iowa by developing a shelf-ready idea based on identified target areas to be put into practice through small-scale pilot projects. First, to develop goals and practices of sustainability for Iowa DOT, this report presents efforts to identify sustainability goals and practices by surveying 50 state DOT’s. Second, this report discusses a development of a database of sustainable practices with implementation records (DOSPIR), which can serve as a central repository of construction, materials, and performance data of sustainable practices, allowing transportation engineers to access past performance data and identify the most appropriate sustainable practices. Third, the sustainability co-operative rating number (SCORN) that was specifically designed for Iowa DOT with relevant sustainability criteria with numerically oriented rating numbers. The sustainability tools developed from this study provide a roadmap for Iowa DOT to effectively implement sustainable practices. For future studies, the prototype SCORN should be expanded to include and refine rating criteria after adjusting their relative weights based on normalized performance metrics so that the effect of meeting sustainability targets could be quantified. The prototype DOSPIR should be expanded to incorporate more sustainable practices with historical performance data along with their GIS locations. In the future, the research team should interview the top management of Iowa DOT to assess their perception and support for sustainability efforts through incentives for sustainable practices and possibly creating a separate sustainability office that can lead and oversee sustainability efforts.