Assessment of road sustainability

Antonio AGUADO
E.T.S Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos. Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña

Jaime Carlos GÁLVEZ
E.T.S Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid 

Albert AGUADO-RENTER
Smart Engineering. Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña

Pablo PUJADAS
E.T.S Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos. Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña 

David FERNÁNDEZ-ORDÓÑEZ
fib, Secretario General (Lausana, Suiza) 

ABSTRACT

Infrastructure of communication, and in particular roads, have centuries of existence. The design, construction, operation, maintenance and dismantling have been adapted to the requirements and challenges of each historical period. Sustainability is one of the main challenges of our society, including as main pillars: economic, environmental and social aspects. The assessment of the sustainability of an infrastructure such as a road is a challenge still unsettled. Moreover, the misuse of the term sustainability poses a threat to achieve the objective of evaluating the sustainability of the roads. Given that the concept of sustainability implies different requirements and criteria, it seems reasonable to use multi-criteria methods in decision making.

This article presents a brief review of methods to assess the sustainability of the infrastructure. It also proposes the MIVES method to assess the sustainability of roads. It is a multi-criteria method which includes the three main pillars of sustainability: economy, environment and society. The article concludes with an example of application for prioritization of investments in rural roads and its potential conversion in roads of Provincial Government.

KEYWORDS:

Sustainability, Assessment, Multi-criteria method, MIVES method, Environmental, Barcelona, Local network, Provincial Government, Sustainability index