Life cycle assessment and material flow analysis of road and rail infrastructure assets – A critical review

Transport infrastructure assets are essential for society, but they also usually result in significant environmental effects. To assess and reduce these effects, various methods such as life cycle assessment (LCA) and material flow analysis (MFA) have been applied to transport infrastructure assets....

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Main Authors: Soroosh Ataee, André Stephan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-03-01
Series:Cleaner Environmental Systems
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666789425000054
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author Soroosh Ataee
André Stephan
author_facet Soroosh Ataee
André Stephan
author_sort Soroosh Ataee
collection DOAJ
description Transport infrastructure assets are essential for society, but they also usually result in significant environmental effects. To assess and reduce these effects, various methods such as life cycle assessment (LCA) and material flow analysis (MFA) have been applied to transport infrastructure assets. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the current research on the application of LCA and MFA to transport infrastructure assets, focusing on energy and greenhouse gas emissions. Considering 640 publications, the paper identifies the aims and drivers of the studies, the scope and boundaries of transport infrastructure assets, tools and data sources used for LCA and MFA, and the key findings and limitations of previous studies and models. The paper also highlights the research gaps and future research directions, such as integrating LCA and MFA, expanding the scope of transport infrastructure assets considered, improving the data quality and availability, and addressing the uncertainties and trade-offs in the assessment. The paper aims to provide a critical overview of the state-of-the-art methods and knowledge on the environmental assessment of TIA, and to suggest ways to improve the performance of TIA in the future.
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spelling doaj-art-30bf011b21a24701918cb500928329042025-02-06T05:12:55ZengElsevierCleaner Environmental Systems2666-78942025-03-0116100259Life cycle assessment and material flow analysis of road and rail infrastructure assets – A critical reviewSoroosh Ataee0André Stephan1Louvain Research Institute for Landscape, Architecture, Built Environment, Université Catholique de Louvain, B-1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; Corresponding author.Louvain Research Institute for Landscape, Architecture, Built Environment, Université Catholique de Louvain, B-1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, AustraliaTransport infrastructure assets are essential for society, but they also usually result in significant environmental effects. To assess and reduce these effects, various methods such as life cycle assessment (LCA) and material flow analysis (MFA) have been applied to transport infrastructure assets. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the current research on the application of LCA and MFA to transport infrastructure assets, focusing on energy and greenhouse gas emissions. Considering 640 publications, the paper identifies the aims and drivers of the studies, the scope and boundaries of transport infrastructure assets, tools and data sources used for LCA and MFA, and the key findings and limitations of previous studies and models. The paper also highlights the research gaps and future research directions, such as integrating LCA and MFA, expanding the scope of transport infrastructure assets considered, improving the data quality and availability, and addressing the uncertainties and trade-offs in the assessment. The paper aims to provide a critical overview of the state-of-the-art methods and knowledge on the environmental assessment of TIA, and to suggest ways to improve the performance of TIA in the future.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666789425000054Life cycle assessmentLife cycle inventory analysisTransport infrastructure assetsMaterial flow assessmentGeographical information system
spellingShingle Soroosh Ataee
André Stephan
Life cycle assessment and material flow analysis of road and rail infrastructure assets – A critical review
Cleaner Environmental Systems
Life cycle assessment
Life cycle inventory analysis
Transport infrastructure assets
Material flow assessment
Geographical information system
title Life cycle assessment and material flow analysis of road and rail infrastructure assets – A critical review
title_full Life cycle assessment and material flow analysis of road and rail infrastructure assets – A critical review
title_fullStr Life cycle assessment and material flow analysis of road and rail infrastructure assets – A critical review
title_full_unstemmed Life cycle assessment and material flow analysis of road and rail infrastructure assets – A critical review
title_short Life cycle assessment and material flow analysis of road and rail infrastructure assets – A critical review
title_sort life cycle assessment and material flow analysis of road and rail infrastructure assets a critical review
topic Life cycle assessment
Life cycle inventory analysis
Transport infrastructure assets
Material flow assessment
Geographical information system
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666789425000054
work_keys_str_mv AT sorooshataee lifecycleassessmentandmaterialflowanalysisofroadandrailinfrastructureassetsacriticalreview
AT andrestephan lifecycleassessmentandmaterialflowanalysisofroadandrailinfrastructureassetsacriticalreview