The Implementation Of Sustainability In Highway Projects

Today, the implementation of the notion of sustainability in highway construction is an imperative need since economic and social development simultaneously with the environmental protection is worldwide accepted. Well-planned highway projects add to the quality of life. The main question is how to provide innovative and high serviceability roads all by preserving the environment. In this paper, the practical and conceptual aspects of sustainable highway are presented. Additionally, it is pointed out how traditional highway construction pro- cess can be improved by incorporating the basic guidelines of sustainable development. Road construction is a critical component of human activities. The development of economic activity would be diffi cult without extended road networks. The economic and social benefi ts of roads are numerous: enhance the economic growth, reduce travel time, reduce transportation cost, provide access to a variety of critical goods and services and offer new employment opportunities. Several decades ago, the principal constraints affecting new highway projects were chiefl y technical and economic. Engineers and contractors did not have to worry about how a highway would affect the environment. Now, threats against environment quality have led to an increasing awareness. A new construction in highway engineering causes serious negative short-and long-term effects on the environment such as noise disturbance, greenhouse gas emissions, habitat fragmentation, direct loss of habitat (fl ora and fauna), alteration of quality of adjacent habitat, local hydrological and erosion distress and unpleasant chemical effects. The emerging discipline of sustainable development is a response to the growing aware that current levels and forms of economic activity threaten the planet's life support systems. The four dimensions that defi ne and categorise the major principles of sustainability are technology, ecology, economics and ethics. In the present paper, the practical and conceptual aspects of sustainable highway are presented. The dimensions of sustainable development are not independent but instead intertwine in the trade-offs that are inherent in any engineering decision in general and the highway design in par- ticular. Basic principles as the minimisation of use of non-renewable energy and natural resources, the minimisation of negative impact on the environment, the development of sustainable technolo- gies, the economic valuation of the impacts of road projects and the trade-offs between the costs and benefi ts of different choices operate as available tools to implement sustainability on highway con- struction. The role of the highway engineer is to integrate science, technology, experience and innovation into highway construction in order to develop a more sustainable road project.