Sustainable development & transportation : past experiences and future challenges

The term 'sustainable transportation development' is a combination of sustainable development and transportation. As a concept, it involves the application of the sustainable development idea to transportation systems. This paper deals with how the concept of sustainability is currently used and how it should be used in the future engineering of transportation systems. First, the current definitions of sustainable development are reviewed and it is shown that there is a need for definition and criteria that can be used by engineers for planning, design and operation of transportation systems. Second, the current approaches of sustainability in transportation planning are reviewed and discussed. Subsequently, it is proposed that the focus should be on a sustainably developed transportation system, i.e. a system that meets the people's needs, with the available or affordable environmental, financial and social resources. Finally, it is shown that a sustainably developed transportation problem is basically a mathematical problem. (A)