Welcome to Project Emission Estimator

Global climate change is a critical challenge that necessitates agencies involved in the development and maintenance of transportation infrastructure to identify their contributions to green house gas emissions. In response, it is important to calculate metrics to measure carbon footprints and greenhouse gas emissions, and develop standards that can be used to construct, rehabilitate and maintain transportation infrastructure.

In this study, we have measured the carbon footprint of typical Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) and Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) pavements for both the reconstruct and rehabilitation projects including pertinent Capital Preventative Maintenance Program (CPM) treatments, through direct site observation and records from construction management software.

The aim of this research is to calculate the carbon footprint for different HMA and PCC pavement sections and develop recommendations on how the established footprints can be used for the development of green construction standards. Life-cycle assessment methodologies will be used in this research.

Objectives

The purpose of this website is as follows:

  • Report construction inventories for 14 highway reconstruction, rehabilation and CPM projects observed over a period of two summers
  • Report estimated emission factors for construction materials and equipment used
  • Report estimated emission factors for use phase of highways
  • Provide contractors a tool to benchmark construction and rehabilation projects
  • Provide MDOT a tool to assess emissions through the different life cycle stages of a pavement