Sustainable development criteria for the evaluation of highway projects

Sustainable development has been proposed by numerous and diverse individuals and organizations as an alternative model for global economic development as a result of worldwide recognition of the negative effects of current and potential environmental degradation on social development. These individuals and organizations have proposed many definitions and conceptual frameworks for sustainable development and have made many recommendations on how to implement it. More specifically, within the construction industry, public and private organizations responsible for developing new facilities are searching for solutions to current environmental and natural resource problems, and have turned their attention to alternative forms of development that are more sustainable, including but not limited to, the preservation of natural environments, pollution prevention, and the reduction of short and long-term impact on the environment. These alternatives can be selected or considered during the planning, design, construction, and operation of a facility. However, there are a number of difficulties in specifying and applying sustainability as a criterion for planning individual construction projects, particularly, civil infrastructure systems. A review of the literature reveals a lack of both (1) specific sustainability criteria that can assist planners of infrastructure projects in defining project objectives to guide the delivery process, as well as the ultimate outcome of the project; and (2) a practical methodology that can be applied to implement sustainable development normative and operational principles. The purpose of this dissertation is to develop an initial set of sustainability criteria for the evaluation of highway projects, more specifically, within the scope of transportation projects in Puerto Rico. This research uses results of a comprehensive literature review as a point of departure, and applied case study and Delphi survey methodologies to develop a comprehensive list of sustainability criteria, which allow the integration of sustainable development objectives into the domain of highway projects at an early planning stage. This set of criteria will provide a sound foundation for the future development of methodologies and tools for the implementation of sustainability across the life cycle of civil infrastructure projects.