FHWA: Most states endorse EPD for Sustainable Project Delivery

Sources: Federal Highway Administration; CMCM staff

Federal Highway Administration Sustainable Pavements Program team members are engaging with representatives of the 40 state departments of transportation implementing Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for Sustainable Project Delivery. The initiative is part of the 2023-2024 round of Every Day Counts, an FHWA program launched in 2009 “to advance a culture of innovation in the transportation community in partnership with public and private stakeholders.”

The FHWA Center for Accelerating Innovation profiles EPDs for Sustainable Project Delivery here. FHWA includes the initiative in Every Day Counts to highlight sustainable design, procurement and asset management principles.

State DOT outreach paces federal agency measures tied to carbon accounting in material procurement for federally funded infrastructure and building projects. The U.S. General Services Administration is calling for EPD submittals attending concrete and asphalt deliveries to its projects. The Inflation Reduction Act authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency to establish two programs for EPDs, one awarding grants and providing technical assistance “to support the development, enhanced standardization, and transparency of a uniform approach to measuring and certifying the carbon content of construction materials and products.” The second program sets standards for identifying and labeling or certifying carbon efficient and lower carbon construction materials.