Sustainable Highway Evaluation

In fall 2010, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released its Sustainable Highways Self-Evaluation Tool (since renamed the Infrastructure Voluntary Evaluation Sustainability Tool or INVEST). The tool provides a means by which transportation agencies can assess their policies and practices to determine how well sustainability is integrated into their planning, projects and
operations.

As part of its Sustainability Flagship Initiative, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) was looking for a programmatic way to assess the sustainability of current agency policies and practices. The INVEST tool offered a means for accomplishing that.

MnDOT retained HDR Engineering, Inc., a consultant firm, to:
• Objectively review MnDOT information using the tool,
• Develop a “score” for each component,
• Report the findings,
• Help MnDOT establish a benchmark for its future use and
• Recommend enhancements to MnDOT programs and practices.

MnDOT is the first DOT in the nation to have used INVEST.