A users guide on sustainability performance measures for transportation agencies

Abstract

Paper presented at the 31st Annual Southern African Transport Conference 9-12 July 2012 "Getting Southern Africa to Work", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.

Transportation agencies recognize the importance of sustainability in terms of addressing concern for the environment, quality- of- life and economic development, now and into the future. However, transportation agencies often struggle to understand, measure, and apply sustainability concepts in their core activities. Using performance measures can help agencies achieve their goals with respect to sustainability. This paper describes a guidebook developed under the recently completed NCHRP 8-74 project, which was focused on transportation agencies in the USA. The guidebook presents a flexible framework that transportation agencies can use to establish and use sustainability performance measures. It provides an introduction to the basic concepts that link transportation, sustainability and performance measures. It then describes the practical implementation of the sustainability performance measurement framework in a step-by-step manner. Additional guidance and information provided in the guidebook include case study highlights and examples of best practices, examples of measure use and data sources, and a reference compendium of objectives and performance measures for sustainability. The guidebook also provides a “sustainability checklist” to ensure that the framework application is consistent with the basic principles of sustainability. This guidebook therefore provides transportation agencies with the information and resources needed to successfully tailor and implement a sustainability performance measurement system that meets their specific needs. While initially developed from a North America/USA perspective, the paper also discusses the guidebook’s applicability to the South African context.