Relative importance index of sustainable design and construction activities criteria for green highway

Abstract

Highway development and redevelopment inherently contributes to environmental impacts such as stimulation of urban sprawl, loss of open space, and noise and air pollution. Improvement to sustainable highway development is needed, as it will lead to green highway, minimal usage of fuel and greenhouse gas reduction. It is also necessary to have an indicator to reduce greenhouse gases during highway construction. The ideology of 'green' itself shows the connotation towards environment whenever the communities worldwide are concerned. The aim of this paper is to determine the relative importance index analysis in order to rank the criteria to their relative importance. Relative importance index analysis allows identifying most of the important criteria based on participants' replies and it is also an appropriate tool to prioritise indicators rated on Likert-type scales. 22 concessionaires with 140 respondents had been chosen to complete the questionnaires. The data had been analysed through formula of relative index analysis method from previous related studies. The finding showed that site maintenance was ranked first (RII = 0.836), warranty clause is provided in the contract specifications to incorporate construction quality was ranked second (RII = 0.830) and construction personnel training was ranked third (RII = 0.826). It was revealed that the site management which is responsible by the contractors and authorities is the most important factor towards promoting the concept of sustainable development and achieving green highway in Malaysia.