Environmental impact assessment of road asphalt pavements

This paper deals with a versatile, synthetic, simple and user-friendly method based on Life Cycle Assessment studies which summarizes multifaceted, often competing, environmental, technical and economic aspects in road construction. In many cases just economic criteria are applied in call for tenders, because the calculation of the environmental impact of road construction is difficult. In fact, it can be referred to many available options and both the economic and the environmental suitabilities have to be considered, in order to achieve globally sustainable results about road infrastructure work. In this research, the weighted sum model of multicriteria analysis is identified as the tool to evaluate global impact of road works, to compare solutions and to choose the best one. The advantages of the proposed approach are that the local contest and the stakeholders' objective are represented by adopting variable parameters and weights, in order to apply the method to several contexts. A case study explains potential environmental implications of using this new Road Environmental Impact Assessment to calculate effect related to the production of asphalt pavement, considering the production system for aggregates from cradle to gate, the materials transportation to road site and the works to have the road done.