Monday, March 7, 2011

Green Roads- an oxymoron?

Greenroads (488 page pdf, Greenroads Version 1.5 Manual, Feb. 4, 2011)

Also discussed here: I-LAST - Illinois Livable and Sustainable Transportation Rating System and Guide (70 page pdf, Illinois Dept of Transportation, Jan. 8, 2010)

And here: What the heck is a green road? (Chris Cheatham, Sustainable Cities Collective, Feb. 10, 2011)

While the title of today’s review article implies a little cynicism about the environmental benefits of roads and the vehicles that use them, there is no doubt that the two guides now available to rate them and identify ways of reducing their environmental impact and improve their usefulness is a good idea. As pointed out in the commentary posted by Mr. Cheatham on this topic, the next step is a nation-wide approach - and not only for the USA.



Key Quotes:

“Greenroads is a voluntary sustainability rating system, or ‘performance metric,’ for roadway design and construction. It is applicable to all roadway projects including new, reconstructed and rehabilitated roadways. It awards points for sustainable choices/practices and can be used to assess roadway project sustainability.”

“Like LEED, the Illinois-Livable and Sustainable Transportation (I-LAST) Guide establishes a scoring system for planning, design and construction to preserve natural resources and encourage low-impact forms of transportation”

“This guide contains a checklist of potentially sustainable practices. Following the checklist is a description of the intent of each section and the rationale and measures of effectiveness for each item. There are lists of source materials and additional background resources for each item to assist in understanding and applying the practices.”
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