Sustainability 101: A Primer for ITE Members

Sustainability has become an increasingly important concept since its first use in a planning context in 1987. However, the adjective “sustainable” is so broad and so commonly used, that is sometimes inappropriately applied to any planning effort. This paper discusses recent attempts to define and measure “sustainable transportation.” It identifies the actions that the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) has undertaken to promote sustainable transportation initiatives and provides guidance on how ITE members can integrate sustainability into their profession. The three pillars of sustainability (economy, environment and equity) provide a useful framework for practitioners to use to evaluate their transportation plans and projects. ITE has created a sustainability task force to examine how ITE should address sustainability concerns. The task force has developed a roadmap to guide and prioritize its activities within the wide range of possibilities suggested by the term “sustainable transportation.” Several initiatives based on this roadmap are underway.