Sustainability Practices for the Suhua Highway Improvement Project in Taiwan

Sustainability of infrastructure has recently been recognized as an important issue for civil engineering projects, not only in the design phase, but also in the construction phase. In this paper, we discuss the sustainability measures taken for the Suhua Highway Improvement Project. This highway is located in eastern Taiwan, running in a north-south direction and connecting Suao (north end) and Hualien (south end). Project design started in 2008 and associated construction work commenced in 2013 and is expected to be finished in early 2020. It includes eight tunnels (24.5 km), thirteen bridges (8.5 km), and embankments (5.8 km), with a total length of 38.8 km. Some key areas of sustainability, including ecology, landscape, carbon reduction, and cultural preservation, have been taken into consideration in the design and construction phases. In this paper, we will discuss and present detailed study results along with the project construction status. This project is the first highway project in Taiwan that tracks the carbon footprint inventory for each detailed activity. Adjusting the concrete mixture through replacing part of cement with coal fly ash and ground-granulated blast-furnace slag helped reduce roughly 34-43% carbon emission. In addition, comprehensive study on ecological conservation has resulted in some remarkable achievements. The highway design also incorporates local characteristics into the bridge architecture, making it a pleasant addition to the landscape. The sustainability practices and measures taken for the Suhua Highway Improvement project could be very helpful for sustainable environment at local and global levels.