November 2012
SuStainability at Work in tranSportation
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Leaner and Greener: Sustainability at Work in Transportation
Dear Friends,ransportation is more than just highways, cars,trains, and buses. ransportation connects people—totheir jobs, to their communities, and to each other.ransportation reaches across the nation to improve theeconomy and our quality o lie.In 2001, AASHO and FHWA created the Centeror Environmental Excellence to promote environmentalstewardship and encourage innovative ways to streamline the transportation project delivery process. In 2003, AASHO published our
Taking the High Road
report, which chronicled theimportant contributions state transportation agencies make to society and the environment. Wepublished a ollow-up report,
Above and Beyond
in 2009 to document the additional environmentaland social contributions o state DOs’ projects and programs.Tis third report,
Leaner and Greener
, showcases the eorts transportation agencies—includingDOs, MPOs, and transit providers—are undertaking to speed up project delivery and cut costswhile protecting and even improving environmental resources.Trough programmatic environmental solutions, DOs are moving away rom “reinventingthe wheel” or project-level environmental considerations. Tey are using systematic approachesto meet sustainability goals—not just in project development, but during everyday maintenance o their systems as well. Tey are showing that such an approach results in improved environmentaloutcomes and less cost to the taxpayer.Te programs shown here are just a ew o the many innovative and cost-saving strategies beingdeployed by transportation agencies across the nation to beneft society and the environment.John Horsley Executive Director
Letter from AASHTO’sExecutive Director
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Leaner and Greener: Sustainability at Work in Transportation
Dear Friends,Environmental stewardship has always been a majorpriority o the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).And so it was a natural extension o our work to join withAASHO in 2001 to create the Center or EnvironmentalExcellence (Center). We applaud the Center or providing anational showcase and shining a light on sustainability bestpractices that benet our environment, our communities,and our economy.Tis report examines a subject that is especially important to me: how we can speed project delivery,save money, and still protect and improve our environment. Tese principles are at the heart o the Every Day Counts (EDC) initiative we launched in 2009 along with our AASHO partners.Warm-mix asphalt (WMA) is one o the technologies we’re advancing through EDC. It requiresless uel, results in lower emissions, and can extend the paving season in colder climates, which isextremely important as we continue our eorts to create jobs. Trough EDC, we are working with statesto encourage them to adopt WMA as a standard part o their paving work. Streamlining transportationprojects is an important priority or the Obama administration, which alls right in line with EDC.Programmatic agreements reduce or eliminate project and regulatory compliance unknowns, createnew and more exible standards, and provide a proactive and consistent approach to project delivery.FHWA is using programmatic agreements to save historic bridges beore repair becomes scally impossible due to saety and structural concerns.With the use o programmatic agreements, FHWA is able to cut the time by more than hal to repairthese bridges. Rehabilitating these bridges extends their useul lie in a sustainable way and has benetsto the community that ar outweigh their unction as transportation acilities. Historic bridges havecultural and community signicance in addition to serving as important transportation links. FHWA iscurrently rolling out webinars on rehabilitating historic bridges and producing programmatic agreementsor their management, including the work o the Indiana agreement described in Chapter 3.In act, programmatic agreements are one o the EDC strategies that were included in the new transportation bill, MAP-21. Trough our work, we’ve lef an imprint on this important legislation,which President Obama signed into law in July. Many o our project delivery strategies are included inthe bill or complement its provisions. I believe we’re poised to take project delivery to the next level.A key to being successul is the ability to evaluate both the process and the results. FHWA’s new sel-evaluation tool INVES is a voluntary sel-evaluation scoring system that enables transportationagencies to gauge their perormance in adopting sustainability best practices grouped in threecategories—system planning, project development, and operations and maintenance. By oeringstates a collection o best practices, INVES really serves two purposes.First, it inspires them with workable solutions that allow them to incorporate sustainability intotheir transportation projects. And, second, it gives them a tool or measuring their progress. Tis toolcan evaluate all the initiatives highlighted in
Leaner and Greener
, and we would like to see used orevery project.Achieving sustainability in transportation is an ongoing, collaborative process. Te FHWA is proudto work alongside all our partners to advance sustainable transportation practices that serve us now andwill serve us in the uture.Victor M. MendezAdministrator
Letter from FHWA’s Administrator
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What “Leaner and Greener” Means for Leaner and Greener report
Report from FHWA on green initiatives taken by transportation agencies, including Metro.
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