Labrosse, Alexander (2015) Progress towards sustainable road construction – An investigation into the Roads and Maritime Services of New South Wales and Sustainability Rating Tools. [USQ Project]
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Abstract
Sustainability is a concept that is becoming more significant within the roads and transportation industry and recently, the need to achieve more sustainable roads is becoming highly desired. The Roads and Maritime Services of New South Wales (RMS) is a state government agency, responsible for managing the road network, by providing sufficient capacity and maintenance solutions to improve efficiencies.
The aim of the first section of the research was to conduct an assessment on the RMS, in order to identify strengths and weaknesses with respect to working towards improving sustainability within road construction. Findings from this critical review were that the RMS has a long history of innovative processes, which includes specific sustainability strategies, as well as integration of sustainable concepts directly into work procedures, standards and specifications. One negative from the assessment was that there are no systems that allow benchmarking of how sustainable processes are within projects. This results in an inability to consistently measure progress and achievements as well as propose improvements. Sustainability Rating Tools (SRT) were investigated as a method that allows for quantified measurement of sustainability in projects, hence identified as a potential solution to these issues.
The aims of the second section of the research were to firstly develop a new SRT that would be self assessable and tailored for use within RMS, and then to assess the functionality of the system through implementation on a current case study. The Sustainability Monitoring and Reporting Tool or 'SMaRT' was developed and implemented on a $4.7 million roundabout construction project. The SMaRT system was based off important features identified through the assessment on the RMS, as well as through evaluation of existing SRTs. As a result, the system resulted in the consolidation of 'best practice' features and accounted for current values of the RMS. Implementation of the system showed that it functioned as envisaged, and was able to provide results that could be utilised positively for future projects in order to improve sustainability within construction. Overall, final recommendations are that SRTs provide great benefit and should be investigated further, however the use of SMaRT within RMS is likely unfeasible due to several deterring factors.
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| Item Type: | USQ Project |
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| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Bachelor of Engineering(Honours)- Civil |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Civil Engineering and Surveying (1 Jul 2013 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Thorpe, David |
| Date Deposited: | 07 Jun 2016 00:39 |
| Last Modified: | 07 Jun 2016 00:39 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Sustainability Rating Tool, Road construction, Management |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 09 Engineering > 0905 Civil Engineering > 090502 Construction Engineering |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 40 ENGINEERING > 4005 Civil engineering > 400504 Construction engineering |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/29267 |
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