University of Washington

A UTC Success Story GREENROADS: SUSTAINABILITY COUNTS Research by the University of Washington and partners has led to the creation and implementation of a new roadway sustainability rating system called Greenroads®. The Greenroads Rating System (www.greenroads.org) is administered by an independent third-party. It awards points for more sustainable design and construction practices and can be used to certify projects. Greenroads started as a small, unfunded research project at the University of Washington in 2007 and has since grown through the Region 10 UTC and other sponsorship to become a fully functional rating system owned and operated by its own nonprofit company, the Greenroads Foundation. Roadway projects throughout the U.S. and world use the system as they seek to deliver more sustainable transportation infrastructure. Research and implementation efforts have found that a road built to Greenroads standards can result in reduced costs (both initial and long term), reduced environmental impact, increased livability, and innovation in sustainable practices and markets. Sustainability Matters HOW GREENROADS WORKS Roads have great impact so their sustainability matters. In 2011, the U.S. built more than $82 billion worth of highway and street infrastructure. This work is responsible for $168 billion in total economic activity and more than 1 million jobs. This infrastructure helps provide access, mobility, safety, freight movement, and cultural value for communities across the U.S. However, this same work is also responsible for the release of 108 million metric tons of greenhouse gases and the consumption of 22.8 billion kWh of energy. It can also unintentionally divide communities, fragment or destroy habitat, pollute, and deplete natural resources. The Greenroads Rating System is essentially a collection of 48 sustainability best practices that can be applied to roadways. Eleven of them are required and the remaining 37 are voluntary with projects earning points based on the voluntary "credits" they achieve. In addition, a "Custom Credit" section enables project teams to propose their own credits and have them adopted by Greenroads. A project can become "certified" if it meets all 11 Project Requirements and scores high enough with Voluntary and Custom Credit points. How Greenroads Can Help Meeting existing regulatory and standards-based minimums does not result in the level of roadway sustainability that we are capable of producing as an industry. Today, we have the capability to go far beyond these regulations and standards and produce substantially more sustainable roads. We just need to (1) commit to being more sustainable and (2) change our existing institutional processes to allow this commitment to produce results. Greenroads can help in this effort because it: The Greenroads rating system has been tested on road projects worldwide and is already being used to rate and certify projects through the Greenroads Foundation. 1. Sets a recognizable standard for roadway sustainability 2. Recognizes owners/designers/contractors for their sustainability efforts 3. Communicates sustainability efforts succinctly and effectively 4. Grows the market for sustainable products Ultimately, Greenroads provides the standard, motivation, and recognition needed to help the roadway industry move toward more sustainable solutions. IMPLEMENTING GREENROADS Testing and Pilot Projects Since 2008, Greenroads has been tested on 120 road projects around the world. These efforts helped refine Greenroads, and have also produced a state-of-the-art snapshot of roadway sustainability. A few observations from this snapshot are: • Current practices fall just short of the Greenroads certified level. However, almost all projects have opportunity to score at certification levels for no additional cost. • Projects typically score best in the "Access & Equity" category, which reflects the use of a context-sensitive solutions approach and attention to multimodal access. • Larger projects (> $100 million) score well, as do smaller local projects (e.g., cities and towns). Larger projects are usually under a mandate to be more sustainable and have the resources to do so. Importantly, however, sustainability does not have to cost more and is within reach for even small projects, which, on average, outperform larger projects. • Alternative project delivery (i.e., design-build) projects tend to score higher. Presumably, the better integration of design and construction offered by such delivery methods helps produce more sustainable projects. 18 Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium

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