Environmental Performance Indicators for Roadway and Highway Infrastructures Management

This work reviews the main performance indicators (PIs) currently used in literature to assess the environmental-related impacts for the phases of construction and quality control and management of infrastructures, with special attention to those applied on roadways and highways. Particularly, the adoption of such non-technical PIs may have a significant impact on decision-making processes to define both constructive choices, and also managing and maintanance protocols. Among the analysed PIs, on one hand, simplified indicators, such as those based on simplified mass balance functions, are suitable to quickly highlight if recycling/reuse strategies are adopted. On the other hand, those derived through a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) are worth to be mentioned, due to their ability of capturing the whole impacts within defined system boundaries during the life-cycle of the infrastructure. Such impacts can also be translated into costs, indicating the economic value loss caused by the degradation of the environmental indicators.