Abstract

It is agreed that a sustainable transportation system has to satisfy today's needs with a positive influence on meeting future transportation demand. The major concerns in sustainability for most transportation agencies are related to (a) the safety issues for all potential users, (b) the system’s efficiency in providing accessibility and mobility, (c) the potential of the transportation systems to enhance economic productivity and social equity, and last but not least (d) limiting and/or eliminating the negative impact on the natural environment. The assessment of a transportation system’s sustainability should include the extent to which the decisions affecting transportation activity are optimized with respect to different environmental, social and economic criteria. Qualitative methods to assess transportation sustainability are found in many the studies. Even though there are few studies regarding quantitative assessment of transportation sustainability, they are for small-scale applications and with limited number of indicators. This thesis proposes a quantitative methodology to assess transportation sustainability that is flexible and comprehensive (i.e. independent of the type and scale of the transportation system analyzed). In this thesis, the criterions related to major concerns, generally referred to as indicators are grouped into sets that include specific goals and objectives, because an ideal sustainable transportation planning requires a balanced set of indicator targeting economic, social, and environmental sustainability. Using these indicator sets, a Sustainability Index is developed, which represents a weighted aggregated value based on the Analytic Hierarchy Processes principle. Therefore, the proposed methodology is organized as a comprehensive and flexible evaluation framework that provides a global assessment index. This methodology can be adapted to local assessment conditions used by transportation agencies to examine the conditions of the existing transportation infrastructure, as well as to predict the sustainability of future transportation developments.