The complexity of integrating sustainability with transportation asset management processes: governance of intergovernmental decision-making on prioritizing transportation infrastructure projects

This study assesses intergovernmental decision-making processes undertaken by state and regional agencies to prioritize transportation infrastructure projects for Statewide Transportation Improvement Programs (STIPs). We hypothesize that, first, the criterion of “system preservation” dominates the selection and implementation of transportation projects, and second, that environmental sustainability-related criteria are under-emphasized in project prioritization processes. We test these hypotheses by statistically modeling the STIP project prioritization processes in the state of Vermont from 2006 to 2010. Focus groups, interviews, and analysis of project prioritization data informed the statistical modeling of complex decision-making processes. We find that the projects with higher environmental sustainability scores are less likely to be funded while projects with higher system preservation scores are more likely to be funded. The governance of intergovernmental decision-making processes will require re-calibration and improvements in inter-agency collaboration if environmental sustainability criteria are to be integrated into transport asset management processes.