Evaluation of Sustainability Determinants to Develop a Sustainability Rating System for California Infrastructure Construction Projects

This study evaluates the important sustainability determinants that affect factors’ success in meeting their sustainability goals when conducting infrastructure construction projects in California. The study implemented the online survey method to evaluate the sustainability characteristics that infrastructure industry professionals currently are aware of under the current situation in California. A data set of 25 validated survey responses is used for statistical data analysis using analysis of variables, Kruskal-Wallis tests, and two sample t-tests. The analysis results showed that the median response values for the six major sustainability categories do not show any significant difference. The results also showed that no statistically significant difference in the mean response values can be found from the six major sustainability categories considered. Based on the pairwise comparison results, only the other category showed a difference with water- and energy-related categories. However, mean ranks among the factors under each category are useful in prioritizing the importance of the factors considered, which will be useful for the successful implementation of sustainability in infrastructure construction projects in California. These results are meaningful for legislators and transportation agencies because they provide insights about the sustainability criteria relevant to infrastructure construction projects for better informed decisions about how to meet the projects’ sustainability goals.