LCA analyses for roads and bridges as a tool for detailed and comprehensive environmental impact assessment

Abstract

The article presents possibilities of using LCA analyses for roads and bridges determining core boundary conditions and functional unit. The examples of characteristic process trees were studied and fundamental for further analyses. The environmental impact assessment methods, based on LCA analyses, illustrating roads and bridges influence on environmental elements such as climate or ozone layer, were presented. The influence of boundary conditions and the process tree expansion on the results obtained was described with its reference to the scale on environmental impact. It showed how the interpretation of the results make an optimization of a design possible in order to minimize the environmental impact.

Keywords

• environment
• roads
• bridges
• LCA
• impact assessment