I-LAST

2. I-LAST Illinois - Livable and Sustainable Transportation Rating System and Guide

3. I-LAST Team Cooperative effort between members of: Illinois Department of Transportation American Council of Engineering Companies of Illinois Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association

4. What is I-LAST? The purpose of I-LAST is threefold: • Provide a guide to sustainable practices • Establish a simple way to evaluate project sustainability • Recognize the use of sustainable practices in the transportation industry

5. Why I-LAST? • Growing interest in sustainability among: • Public • Legislators • Engineers • At the time we started there were no other comprehensive guides available for roadways. • Sustainability requirements are coming. An opportunity to be proactive.

6. What is Sustainability? “Meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. “ United Nations, Bruntland Commission

7. Sustainable Highways Sustainable Highways, includes three principal ideas: • Protect, maintain and preserve natural resources • Design to enable and encourage lower impact forms of transportation • Use construction practices that reduce the environmental and community impacts

8. Other Systems Pilot Test Phase F H W A INVEST – Sustainable Highways Self-Evaluation Tool

9. Foundation Principles • Project team oriented • Focus on issues addressed by project team • No policy issues • Scoring for each team • Resource to project teams • Bottom up approach

10. I-LAST Goals • Increase use of sustainable features • Guide • Useful information • Feedback • Measures of success • Scores

11. Foundation Principles • Applicable to all highway projects • Small to large • Simple to complex • Applicable to all Phases • Phase I Planning • Phase II Final Design • Phase III Construction • No prerequisites – all projects • Information for all users

12. What is in I-LAST? Over 150 sustainable items that can be considered in the design of highway projects. The items are in nine major categories: • Planning • Context Sensitive Solutions – 4 Items • Land Use / Community Planning – 6 Items

13. What is in I-LAST? Over 150 sustainable items that can be considered in the design of highway projects. The items are in nine major categories: • Planning • Design • Alignment and Cross Section – 7 Items • Context Sensitive Design – 6 Items

14. What is in I-LAST? Over 150 sustainable items that can be considered in the design of highway projects. The items are in nine major categories: • Planning • Design • Environmental • Wildlife and its Habitat – 11 Items • Trees & Plant Communities – 10 Items • Noise Abatement – 13 Items

15. What is in I-LAST? Over 150 sustainable items that can be considered in the design of highway projects. The items are in nine major categories: • Planning • Design • Environmental • Water Quality • Reduce impervious area – 11 Items • Stormwater treatment – 10 Items • Construction practices – 13 Items

16. What is in I-LAST? Over 150 sustainable items that can be considered in the design of highway projects. The items are in nine major categories: • Planning • Design • Environmental • Water Quality • Transportation • Traffic Operations – 6 Items • Transit – 10 Items • Bicycle & Pedestrian – 13 Items

17. What is in I-LAST? Over 150 sustainable items that can be considered in the design of highway projects. The items are in nine major categories: • Planning • Design • Environmental • Water Quality • Transportation • Lighting • Reduce Electrical Consumption – 7 Items • Stray Light Reduction – 2 Items

18. What is in I-LAST? Over 150 sustainable items that can be considered in the design of highway projects. The items are in nine major categories: • Planning • Design • Environmental • Water Quality • Transportation • Lighting • Materials • Material Specifications – 31 items in 13 Groups

19. What is in I-LAST? Over 150 sustainable items that can be considered in the design of highway projects. The items are in nine major categories: • Planning • Design • Environmental • Water Quality • Transportation • Lighting • Materials • Innovation

20. What is in I-LAST? Over 150 sustainable items that can be considered in the design of highway projects. The items are in nine major categories: • Planning • Design • Environmental • Water Quality • Transportation • Lighting • Materials • Innovation • Items beyond IDOT specifications • Items that are options in IDOT specifications 9. Construction

21. ILAST CONSTRUCTION PRACTICES • 44 Sustainable Items • Includes: Wildlife habitat, plant communities, energy, stormwater, and • material management

22. Check List

23. Category Intent and Rationale Intent The objective of this section is to consider balancing community goals and transportation needs through increased consideration of transportation alternatives that accommodate a broad perspective of community interests. Rationale Sustainable transportation alternatives can emphasize the relationship between land use and transportation planning. Local and Regional planners are incorporating sustainable design principles into their development plans, thus reflecting the diverse goals and interests of communities. Social and environmental issues, such as congestion, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy consumption, can be addressed through consideration of managed growth planning initiatives. The growing concern for the environment is leading to the objective of developing multi-modal transportation solutions that address mobility needs in an effective, efficient, and responsible manner. By focusing on land use and transportation planning from a holistic perspective and considering all users, transportation projects can achieve higher levels of sustainability.

24. Item Descriptions P-2a Promote reduction in vehicle trips by accommodating increased use of public transit (2 points) Criteria Two points will be awarded for incorporation of design elements offering alternatives to single occupancy vehicular usage such as Park-and-Ride lots, dedicated bus lanes, or High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes. P-2b Accommodate multi-modal transportation uses (e.g. transit riders, pedestrians, and bicyclists) (2 points) Criteria Two points will be awarded to projects applying “Walkable Communities” and/or the “Complete Streets” concepts by providing safe access for all users including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and transit riders of all ages and abilities. These designs include considerations for older people, children, and people with disabilities.

25. Source Material References • Sources & Resources • AASHTO. A Guide for Achieving Flexibility in Highway Design, May 2004. • FHWA, Flexibility in Highway Design, 1997. • http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/flex/index.htm. • IDOT Departmental Policies. Context Sensitive Solutions, August 1, 2005. • ITE. Context Sensitive Solutions in Designing Major Urban Thoroughfares • for Walkable Communities, 2006. • Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission. Transit-Oriented Development – Building A Regional Framework, January 2001.http://www.nipc.org/planning/pdf/nipc_transit.pdf. • National Complete Streets Coalition. http://www.completestreets.org.

26. Scoring • Scoring is not the most important part • It was the most difficult • Hard to fairly compare items • NOT carbon footprint based, for example • Level of Effort difficult to quantify • Make it simple • No certification documentation • Self scoring • Quick and easy

27. Scoring Philosophy

28. Scoring Goals • No Prerequisites • Applicable to all highway projects • Small to large • Simple to complex • Applicable to all Phases • Phase I Planning • Phase II Final Design • Phase III Construction

29. Weighted Scoring • Total of 233 points on 153 items • Comparing projects of different size and scope • A very sustainable small project may score fewer points than a much larger project where not much was done. • So, use percentage of applicable items • Two scoring steps: • Determine at the start of the project which items are applicable to the project • Evaluate at the end for which of those items the goal was accomplished • Resulting score is a percentage

30. 2 2 2 N/A N/A N/A N/A Sample Scoring 0 2 0 19 max 8/12=67% 12 applicable

31. Scoring • Self Scoring system • No certification, record keeping or outside auditing • No calculations, either an objective was accomplished, or not • Project Manager should be able to score a project in an hour or so • Scoring summary • IDOT is gathering data as it scores projects to develop a scoring curve

32. Implementation • Completed First Year Trial Period • IDOT District I scored completed projects • Construction Phase Draft by IRTBA • Joint Committee is updating I-LAST now • Developing a scoring curve based on reports • Goal is a new version early 2012

33. What is the Future? • Multiple rating systems • About 500 systems worldwide • GreenRoads – University of Washington • envision – Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ACEC-APWA-ASCE) • INVEST – FHWA’s Infrastructure Voluntary Evaluation Sustainability Tool Which will survive? • Needs to provide value • Needs to be easy to use • Related to funding?

34. How to get I-LAST Download from: http://www.acec-il.org/docs/UPDATEDI-LASTManual.pdf