Chains of causality associated with the environmental impact of road transport system

Abstract

Given the growing interest in the promotion of sustainable transport worldwide, the measurement and assessment of sustainability associated with systems and transport policies had become an increasingly important area, its measurement being performed through the environmental indicators. The paper presents the main environmental indicators assign to the road transport system and the corresponding chains of causality. Also, the energy performance and the Global Warming Potential, expressed in quantities of CO₂ equivalent, related to the construction and maintenance of flexible road pavements, determined based on a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis embedded in the asPECT software, developed by TRL Laboratories, are given within this study. This paper aims to emphasize the necessity to take appropriate measures for road pavements maintenance and intervention, intended to prolong their life in order to minimize the overall ecological impact associated with the reconstruction of road pavement, which involves the release into the atmosphere of polluting emissions, usage of enormous granular materials quantities and energy consumption and thus, the exponential increase in the greenhouse effect.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.sace.14.1.14658