A Guidebook for Sustainability Performance Measurement for Transportation Agencies (2011) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix F - Case Studies and Rating System Summaries
Appendix F - Case Studies and Rating System Summaries
Pages 165-186
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From page 165... ...
Case Studies and Rating System Summaries F-1 Appendix F Case Studies and Rating System Summaries CASE STUDIES Each of the case studies included in this document provides the following information, organized into sections: • Details about the interview contacts and any background documents reviewed for compilation of the case studies, • The agency's adopted definition of sustainability or a discussion of the lack of definition, • Specific agency programs and practices that incorporate sustainability principles, • The impetus or history behind the agency's incorporation of sustainability principles, • Actual sustainability performance measures in use and discussion of the development of those measures, • A description of how the performance measures are tracked, • How the measures have been applied to decision making, • Lessons learned by the agency as a result of development and/or adoption of sustainability performance measures, and • The future outlook of sustainability performance measures at the agency.
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From page 166... ...
Caltrans has a number of programs and efforts that incorporate sustainability principles and measures, including • California Transportation Plan (CTP)
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From page 167... ...
TERC is composed of representatives of transportation agencies and resource agencies from throughout the state. The sustainability subcommittee encourages sharing between agencies working on sustainability, with a focus on sharing best practices, creating a sustainability template, creating a potential coordinated certification system, creating a sustainability policy that can be adopted by all members, and developing performance measures, including a potential statewide baseline.
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From page 168... ...
The prior FTP (2025) focused on sustainable investments and also addressed sustainability with a specific objective related to conservation of the natural environment, nonrenewable resources and energy, and reduction in greenhouse gases and air pollutants.
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From page 169... ...
MnDOT has seen a noticeable shift in public opinion, with growing public support for transit and alternative modes. MnDOT considers sustainability as a factor in several key agency initiatives: • The most recent state transportation plan is more focused on sustainability than earlier versions, though sustainability is not fully defined.
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From page 170... ...
As a part of the GreenLITES effort, NYSDOT defined transportation sustainability as a philosophy based on a set of six principles: protect and enhance the environment; conserve energy and natural resources; preserve or enhance the historic, scenic, and aesthetic project setting characteristics; encourage public involvement in the transportation planning process; integrate smart growth and other sound land-use practices; and encourage new and innovative approaches to sustainable design and how facilities are operated and maintained. Currently, however, efforts are under way to redefine sustainability to emphasize the ways in which transportation serves a sustainable society, rather than just considering sustainability in the context of transportation operations.
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From page 171... ...
To comply with Executive Order 03-03, ODOT issued its first formal sustainability plan in 2004. This plan integrated the state's sustainability goals with ODOT strategic goals, which are: (1)
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From page 172... ...
This plan identifies existing WSDOT objectives that support sustainability and creates four long-range goals based on Executive Order 02-03. The plan contains some quantifiable metrics pertaining to internal operations (e.g., ferry fuel use, number of low-emission/hybrid vehicles, biodiesel use, paper purchases, paper recycling, and energy use)
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From page 173... ...
Therefore, the agency realized it needed to understand and define sustainability. In response, CMAP created a definition of sustainability composed of four principles: protect the environment and improve natural resources for future generations; improve economic performance and quality of life for individuals; preserve the value of human and man-made capital for future generations; and ensure a fair distribution of lifequality.
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From page 174... ...
MORPC releases an annual public policy agenda that states their policy goals and informs political stakeholders of their priorities. Smart growth and patterns of sustainable development and multimodal transportation have been features of this document for many years.
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From page 175... ...
Although tracking protocols have not yet been established, MWCOG is in the process of beginning a plan for regularly monitoring progress toward the goals identified in Region Forward through regional progress reports. While the concepts of sustainability embodied by the MWCOG Region Forward report have yet to be integrated into MWCOG's Transportation Planning Board's policies and decision making, in the future it is hoped that the goals, targets, and indicators will help inform regional leadership and policy making.
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From page 176... ...
These include activities at headquarters to reduce waste and conserve energy, an energy reduction lighting program at the bus maintenance facility, the purchase of cleaner buses, and an agency-wide EMS designed to embed sustainable practices into the agency's daily activities and services. HRT has a set of measures they have identified for the EMS.
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From page 177... ...
The original strategic environmental plan and the later strategic plan vision statement helped build momentum for three interrelated activities over three years that have driven Alexandria's sustainability agenda: • In 2007, a "Green-ventory" of city environmental policies, plans, and programs; • In 2008, an Eco-City Charter; and • In 2009, the Environmental Action Plan 2030, which is based on the Eco-City Charter and frames Alexandria's sustainability policy. The Environmental Action Plan (EAP)
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From page 178... ...
Ideally they help craft and adjust transport plans and guide agencies and the government ministry's control of their implementation activities. However, efforts to develop meaningful performance measures have only been partly successful -- for several objectives only general measures exist, or performance measures exist that only partly address the objective.
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From page 179... ...
Sustainability principles cut across the actions of all parts of the organization, including strategic management, long-range planning and programming, project development and design, construction, and operations and maintenance. The 2007–08 SDAP set about defining what sustainable development meant to the Highways Agency.
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From page 180... ...
a=319882&c=34749 Purpose: STARS is an integrated planning framework and rating system for transportation plans, projects, and employer programs that is based on sustainability principles. STARS aims to evaluate the full life cycle of transportation projects and acknowledges that the decision of what to build in the first place is just as important (and sometimes more important)
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From page 181... ...
Greenroads Website: www.greenroads.us Purpose: Greenroads is a voluntary sustainability rating system, or performance metric, for roadway design and construction, including project planning. It is applicable to all roadway projects including new, reconstructed, and rehabilitated roadways.
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From page 182... ...
GreenLITES is a self-certification program that distinguishes transportation projects and maintenance activities based on the extent to which they incorporate sustainable practices. Sustainability definition: Sustainability is defined broadly in the GreenLITES rating system to refer to any human use of resources that does not exhaust those resources.
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From page 183... ...
. Specifically, I-LAST identifies the following goals for providing sustainable features in the design and construction of highway projects: • Minimize impacts to environmental resources; • Minimize the consumption of material resources; • Minimize energy consumption; • Preserve and/or enhance the historic, scenic, and aesthetic context; • Integrate highway projects into the community in a way that helps preserve and enhance community life; • Encourage community involvement in the transportation planning process;
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From page 184... ...
Green Guide for Roads Website: http://www.tac-atc.ca/english/projects/greenguide.cfm Purpose: The stated purpose of Canada's national Green Guide for Roads is to promote sustainable growth and alternative multimodal transportation solutions within corridors, along with safe, long-lasting roadway infrastructure and green construction principles. The intent of the guide is to respect traditional design objectives for safety, efficiency, capacity, and maintenance, while integrating objectives relating to compatibility, livability, universal accessibility, modal equity, conservation of resources, affordability, and environmental protection.
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From page 185... ...
This rating system can be used by the highway industry to help incorporate sustainable elements into projects more easily at the forefront but also in any phase of a project. Sustainability definition: BE2ST-in-Highways defines sustainable development as the ability to "meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs," which is the definition from the United Nations Brundtland Commission's 1987 report entitled Our Common Future.
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From page 186... ...
F-22 A Guidebook for Sustainability Performance Measurement for Transportation Agencies Sustainability definition: The definition of sustainability that serves as an organizing concept for GreenPave is the same definition used to guide MTO. MTO is committed to enhancing the sustainability of Ontario's transportation infrastructure, including safe, efficient, economical, environmentally friendly technologies and materials that meet the needs of present-day users without compromising those of future generations.
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