Multi-criteria life cycle approach to develop weighting of sustainability indicators for pavement

In the past decade, sustainable practices have been adopted in transportation infrastructure projects to reduce adverse environmental effects. To evaluate the sustainability levels of engineering projects holistically, rating systems have been developed to assess and reward points based on various sustainable best practices (indicators). This study aimed to establish a systematic methodology to weight indicators related to materials and resources most commonly used by various transportation infrastructure rating systems based on their contributions to sustainability. A multi-criteria approach for assessing the indicators based on three criteria, indicator performance, environment, and cost, was designed. The criteria were then used to evaluate the indicators and assessed points based on their contributions toward sustainability. Results revealed that state-of-the-art engineering practices could differentiate weighting of points from the typical linear point increase that is traditionally used. In addition, a maximum cap is crucial to ensure that some indicators do not end up being weighted disproportionately.