Demonstrating How Sustainability Can Effectively Be Incorporated into Pavement Engineering and Management

Currently, public agencies in the United States and Canada are investigating the feasibility of incorporating sustainability into pavement engineering. The potential benefits are diverse and of strategic importance as they encompass improvements to virgin material usage, alternative material usage, pavement in-service monitoring and management, noise, air quality, water quality, and energy usage. The paper provides summary results of eight case studies from United States and Canadian provincial departments of transportation. The case studies highlight practices in Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Ontario, and New York. The paper highlights how these agencies are implementing sustainability programs that involve various aspects of pavement engineering and management. The highlighted case studies focus on sustainability and how it relates to pavement design and construction, and they provide an excellent basis for future application to pavement preservation and maintenance treatment. The presented case studies demonstrate proactive promotion of environmental performance utilized by the agency that also provides technical and economic benefits.