SUSTAINABILITY STUDIES OF TRANSPORTATION CORRIDORS IN METROPOLITAN CITY DELHI

Abstract

Stockholm, Sweden conducted the 1st United Nations (UN) Conference on the Human Environment in 1972. Later on, the term ‘Sustainability’ was coined during discussions carried out at various forums in the Brundtland Commission held in 1987. It was conceptualised as “meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. The aim and ambition of making a provision of sustainable characteristics in the planning and execution of transportation corridor in an urban environment are to minimise footprints on the natural resources and their consumption for the benefit of society, encourage society in the process of planning of transportation systems and ultimately strike a balance between the demands of the community, mother nature and sound economical practices. These 3 Parameters i.e. social, economic and environmental were most commonly accepted as three pillars of sustainability. Sustainability in transportation system has become an important issue day by day and can be observed distinctly with the traffic congestion observed in urban areas and poor quality of air we breathe-in having an impact on our health. Sustainability indicators needs to be developed by going to the on-going construction project sites and by interacting with all the stakeholders getting impacted in this field. Without conceding with the capacity of the next generation to fulfill their own needs, research work has been carried out following broad objective of Identification of different sustainability indicators for the transportation framework in urban environment, assessing the sustainability of the construction sites with application of Fuzzy-Vikor methodology and simplifying the methodology for sustainability evaluation. x vii The work done during the period of research is primarily carried out to notice and detail out the Sustainability indicators that governs during the execution stage of a transportation project in a predominantly urban area. The research has been made on four projects under construction and later on completed in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. The methodology adopted in this research was a five step procedure in order to identify the suitable sustainability indicators, categorise them and carry out the sustainability analysis. Subsequently a simpler and more suitable technique for sustainability analysis has been developed. As per the studies carried out on the four construction sites during the peak of their execution, it was identified that the sustainability of the transportation projects during their construction in an urban environment is just not limited to three Pillars, but is actually much beyond that. Every activity or any Project has been looked into the right perspective to understand its relevance to all those it matters. Transportation sector is an area that affects the life of every individual in all areas say education sector, commercial activities, availing of medical amenities or say movement of the public at large for any purpose they need to commute. It is not only the operation stage, but the construction stage also that makes an impact on the residents living nearby as well as on the commuters passing through the corridor on the route or through the diverted route. All such members of society are exposed to air pollution, noise pollution, water pollution, increase in travel time besides health and safety concerns. Environment faces irreversible degradation and other adverse impacts on the numerous directly or indirectly related issues. Various Sustainability Indicators during the execution as identified during the construction of four elevated transportation corridors and thereafter their classification into various categories are a part of this research. With the comparative study on the selected construction sites during construction stage, the most sustainable site based on identified sustainability indicators was distinguished. Finally, a SETU rating system has been xv iii generated for the Sustainability Evaluation of the Transportation infrastructure in an Urban Environment (SETU). Based on the SETU rating system, the projects during the construction stage can be assigned Silver, Gold, Diamond and Platinum ratings.