It is important to assess the sustainability of the road salt widely used in winter road maintenance operations from a holistic perspective. This becomes increasingly apparent in light of the competing priorities faced by the roadway agencies, the need for collaborative decision‐making, and the growing concerns over the short‐term and long‐term risks that road salt poses for motor vehicles, transportation infrastructure, and the natural environment. As such, this chapter introduces the concept of Life‐Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA), which combines Life‐Cycle Costing (LCC), Environmental Life‐Cycle Assessment (LCA), and Social Life‐Cycle Assessment (SLCA). The combination captures the features of three pillars in sustainability: economic development, environmental preservation, and social progress. With this framework, it is possible to enable more informed and balanced decisions, by considering the entire life cycle of road salt and accounting for the indirect impacts of applying road salt for snow and ice control. This chapter proposes an LCSA framework for road salt which examines the three branches of LCSA, their relationships in the integrated framework, and the complexities and caveats of LCSA. While this framework is the first step in the right direction, we envision that it will be improved and enriched by continued research and may serve as a template for LCSA of other winter road maintenance (WRM) products, technologies, and practices.


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    Title :

    A Framework for Life‐Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Road Salt Used in Winter Maintenance Operations


    Contributors:
    Shi, Xianming (editor) / Fu, Liping (editor) / Cui, Na (author) / Xie, Ning (author) / Shi, Xianming (author)


    Publication date :

    2018-04-18


    Size :

    16 pages




    Type of media :

    Article/Chapter (Book)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English





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