Transportation sustainability rating systems have been introduced over the last ten years in the United States, where various indicators have been developed or adopted to evaluate sustainable performance of roadways. This thesis compares the categories of five rating systems (Greenroads, GreenLITES, INVEST, ENVISION and CEEQUAL) based on the dimensions of sustainability, of which the focus is environmental sustainability. It also examines the indicators related to each category.
Indicators are selected based on the criteria presented in the literature review. Both subjective and objective approaches are presented for the analysis of individual indicators. However, the objective one is used in an attempt to determine which of the indicators are easiest to use amongst the five systems. After the final selection of possible indicators, the barriers that make it difficult to adopt them are discussed.
This thesis shows that Greenroads and INVEST frequently refer to regulations and policies, whilst GreenLITES implements physical changes into roadway design to minimise environmental impacts. Alternative transport modes are created within the project context, besides creating access points to heritage sites. Greenroads and INVEST examine the sustainability of projects through the use of LCCA. Besides sustainability evaluations, INVEST checks the affordability of transportation (especially public transport) and the impacts on economic development. ENVISION and CEEQUAL decompose their indicators into a series of questions.
The difficulty analysis shows the most suitable categories of indicators following the literature review and their parent systems. One of those is the category of materials whose indicators are local materials, earthworks balance, reuse of materials and recycled materials. Barriers are finances, resources, regulations and policies, schedule and time, and limited experience.

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