Development of a sustainability assessment methodology for UK streetworks projects

When streetworks are carried out to renew road surfaces or maintain buried pipes and cables, a number of different aspects need to be considered. An assessment tool has been developed so that highway authorities and utility companies can compare different solutions (or ‘Scenarios’) in terms of the impacts created (See Figure 4.1). These impacts were best captured by developing a new sustainability assessment methodology that combines qualitative and quantitative methods, and focuses on the needs of the ‘one customer’ who enjoys access to roads and utilities every day but pays the price through tax, utility bills, congestion and noise. The assessment tool was applied to four Case Studies and the results validated, and it proved beneficial in understanding how the value of streetworks solutions can be evaluated. However, certain input parameters (notably average vehicle delays at streetworks) now need to be investigated further to better understand the uncertainty of the result. The methodology provides an academic contribution because it incorporates working practices used in the UK, techniques used to measure or calculate certain impacts, and criteria used to consider social or environmental issues, to create a sustainability-based assessment tool that is specifically designed for small scale streetworks projects.