The University of Washington and CH2M Hill have jointly released a sustainability performance metric, or “rating system,” for roadway design and construction.

The Greenroads system was unveiled at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) meeting last month in Washington, D.C.,and  on Jan. 19, the Version 1.0 Rating System (80-page synopsis) was made publicly available.  (For the full manual, which includes examples, strategies and citations, click here. It’s 400+ paqes, so please allow several minutes for it to download.)

The system is applicable to new and reconstructed/rehabilitated roadways. It awards points for approved sustainable choices/practices and can be used to assess roadway project sustainability

Greenroads is a metric that helps quantify the sustainable attributes of a roadway project. This quantification can be used to do the following:

 Define what project attributes contribute to roadway sustainability.

 Provide a sustainability accounting tool for roadway projects.

 Communicate sustainable project attributes to stakeholders.

 Manage and improve roadway sustainability.

 Grant “certification” based on achieving a minimum number of points.

According to Greenroads, a project rating is an official review of your project to determine what Project Requirements and what Voluntary Credits your project has earned. Based on achieving all the Project Requirements (PR) and a predetermined number of Voluntary Credit (VC) points, your project is officially given a Greenroads certification and you are authorized to display the Greenroads logo in association with your project (including as a road sign) after approval of the Greenroads team.

Certification levels for Version 1.0 are the following:

•Certified: All Project Requirements + 32‐42 Voluntary Credit points (30‐40% of total)

•Silver: All Project Requirements + 43‐53 Voluntary Credit points (40‐50% of total)

•Gold: All Project Requirements + 54‐63 Voluntary Credit points (50‐60% of total)

•Evergreen: All Project Requirements + 64+ Voluntary Credit points (>60% of total).

For a one-page primer on Greenroads–wnat it is and why it exists, click here.