Carbon Footprint Estimation in Road Construction: La Abundancia–Florencia Case Study

Marianela Espinoza, Noelia Campos, Rebekah Yang, Hasan Ozer, José P. Aguiar-Moya, Alejandra Baldi, Luis G. Loría-Salazar and Imad L. Al-Qadi
Additional contact information
Marianela Espinoza: National Laboratory of Materials and Structural Models, University of Costa Rica, San José 11501, Costa Rica
Noelia Campos: National Laboratory of Materials and Structural Models, University of Costa Rica, San José 11501, Costa Rica
Rebekah Yang: Transportation Engineering Solutions and Technologies, Inc., Champaign, IL 61822, USA
Hasan Ozer: Transportation Engineering Solutions and Technologies, Inc., Champaign, IL 61822, USA
José P. Aguiar-Moya: National Laboratory of Materials and Structural Models, University of Costa Rica, San José 11501, Costa Rica
Alejandra Baldi: National Laboratory of Materials and Structural Models, University of Costa Rica, San José 11501, Costa Rica
Luis G. Loría-Salazar: National Laboratory of Materials and Structural Models, University of Costa Rica, San José 11501, Costa Rica
Imad L. Al-Qadi: Transportation Engineering Solutions and Technologies, Inc., Champaign, IL 61822, USA

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 8, 1-13

Abstract: The environmental impact of road construction and rehabilitation can be associated with the increase of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which are highly related to climate change. Consequently, departments of transportation have recently focused on the development and implementation of tools to evaluate the performance of projects and minimize GHG emissions. An example is the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) to analyze and quantify the environmental impact of a product, system, or process, from cradle to grave. In this regard, the present case study quantifies the carbon footprint associated with the construction of the La Abundancia–Florencia highway, located in the province of San Carlos in Costa Rica. The analysis is also intended to generate consciousness both in the public and private sectors on the environmental impacts of road construction. After an LCA study, it was determined that the construction of the hot mix asphalt (HMA) layer generates a carbon footprint of 65.8 kg of CO 2 e per km of road. In addition, it was evident that HMA production generates the greatest environmental impact, among all the considered LCA production and construction stages, with a GHG contribution of 38% to 39% from bitumen only. Consequently, special attention to HMA production is required in order to minimize GHG emissions.

Keywords: carbon footprint; GHG; life cycle analysis; emissions; road; asphalt mixtures (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/8/2276/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/8/2276/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:8:p:2276-:d:223064

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().