State DOTs Urged to Respond to Federal Highway Administration Climate Challenge

Earlier this year, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced its Climate Challenge with the purpose of “exploring challenges and needs related to the quantification of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the design, construction, and maintenance of pavements using Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs).” Currently, the FHWA is accepting proposals from state departments of transportation (DOTs) to investigate the regular use of LCA and EPDs to inform pavement material and design selection for enhancing sustainable pavement practices and quantify the emissions and impacts of those practices. DOTs may receive up to $500,000 from the FHWA to conduct these studies; the deadline for proposal submission is Monday, August 1.

Work sponsored by the RMC Research & Education Foundation (RMCREF) and conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Concrete Sustainability Hub (MIT CSHub) over the last decade is perfectly positioned to inform the analyses that state DOTs will conduct to meet the goals of FHWA’s Climate Challenge.

“These are excellent opportunities for states to discover how sustainability concepts may be used to make informed decisions about paving materials throughout the full pavement lifecycle,” said NRMCA Executive Vice President, Local Paving, Brian Killingsworth. “We encourage all state DOTs to participate in the climate challenge and rest assured that personnel from the NRMCA, RMCREF, MIT CSHub and other concrete industry organizations are working with DOTs to secure funding for the climate challenge to properly assess concrete materials and meet the August 1 deadline.”

Click here for more information on the climate challenge.