U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
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Washington, DC 20590
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Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology
Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations
| REPORT |
| This report is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information |
 |
| Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-20-022 Date: February 2020 |
Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-20-022 Date: February 2020 |
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The work presented in this report is part of Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's) ongoing efforts to support the development of datasets that will provide convenient access to comprehensive, reliable, and transparent lifecycle inventories for highway construction materials. The FHWA Sustainable Pavements Program has been working toward applying a lifecycle-assessment (LCA) methods for evaluating environmental impacts associated with pavement design and construction and has produced a framework that addresses the fundamental goal and scope of conducting pavement LCAs.(1) This framework has laid the foundation for the development of product category rules (PCRs) for pavement construction materials and use of environmental product declarations (EPDs) in communicating the impacts of cradle-to-gate LCAs. While this framework is a step in the right direction, it has exposed various challenges associated with producing consistent PCRs and using EPDs to reliably communicate environmental impacts of pavement construction materials.
This report documents these challenges and classifies them within technical and organizational contexts. In addition, this report documents the requirements of the recently passed California Assembly Bill 262 (AB 262) and the experience of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) as it prepares to address the challenges of adopting EPDs in practice as an implementing agency for AB 262 and as it prepares to pilot requiring EPDs for a wide range of pavement materials.(2) This report concludes with suggestions to best address identified challenges and facilitate the smooth adoption of EPDs. This report is intended for State transportation departments' LCA practitioners, PCR developers, and EPD producers.
Cheryl Allen Richter, P.E., Ph.D.
Director, Office of Infrastructure
Research and Development
Notice
This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained in this document. This report does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation.
The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers’ names appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document.
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| 1. Report No. FHWA-HRT-20-022 |
2. Government Accession No. | 3. Recipient’s Catalog No. | ||||
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| 4. Title and Subtitle Challenges in Meeting Data Needs for Use of Environmental Product Declarations in Pavement Design and Construction: State of Practice and Future Scope |
5. Report Date February 2020 |
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| 6. Performing Organization Code 1YX01 |
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| 7. Author(s) Amlan Mukherjee (ORCID: 0000-0001-8250-9246), Chaitanya Bhat (ORCID: 0000-0002-7173-1287), and John Harvey |
8. Performing Organization Report No. PDC-0209-01 |
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| 9. Performing Organization Name and Address Engineering & Software Consultants, Inc. 14123 Robert Paris Court Chantilly, VA 20151 Michigan Technological University 1400 Townsend Drive Houghton, MI 49931 |
10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) | |||||
| 11. Contract or Grant No. DTFH6111D00009/0209 |
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| 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address Office of Infrastructure Research and Development Federal Highway Administration 6300 Georgetown Pike McLean, VA 22101-2296 |
13. Type of Report and Period Covered Final Report; August 2016–February 2018 |
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| 14. Sponsoring Agency Code HRDI-20 |
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| 15. Supplementary Notes Nadarajah Sivaneswaran (HRDI-20; ORCID: 0000-0003-0287-664X), Office of Infrastructure Research and Development, Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, served as the Contracting Officer's Representative. |
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| 16. Abstract The work presented in this report is part of Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's) ongoing efforts to support the development of datasets that will provide convenient access to comprehensive, reliable, and transparent lifecycle inventories for highway construction materials. The FHWA Sustainable Pavements Program has been working toward applying a lifecycle-assessment (LCA) methods for evaluating environmental impacts associated with pavement design and construction and has produced a framework that addresses the fundamental goal and scope of conducting pavement LCAs.(1) This framework has laid the foundation for the development of product category rules (PCRs) for pavement construction materials and use of environmental product declarations (EPDs) in communicating the impacts of cradle-to-gate LCAs. While this framework is a step in the right direction, it has exposed various challenges associated with producing consistent PCRs and using EPDs to reliably communicate environmental impacts of pavement construction materials. This report documents these challenges and classifies them within technical and organizational contexts. In addition, this report documents the requirements of the recently passed California Assembly Bill (AB) 262 and the experience of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) as it prepares to address the challenges of adopting EPDs in practice as an implementing agency for AB 262 and as it prepares to pilot requiring EPDs for a wide range of pavement materials.(2) This report concludes with suggestions to best address identified challenges and to facilitate the smooth adoption of EPDs. |
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| 17. Key Words Pavement lifecycle assessment, construction materials lifecycle inventory, production category rules, environmental product declarations |
18. Distribution Statement No restrictions. This document is available to the public through the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161. https://www.ntis.gov |
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| 19. Security Classif. (of this report) Unclassified |
20. Security Classif. (of this page) Unclassified |
21. No. of Pages 50 |
22. Price N/A |
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| Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) | Reproduction of completed pages authorized. | |||||
