Greenroads

Windows rolled down. Wind whipping through your hair. Music blaring from the speakers.

Does this scene sound familiar? Chances are many (if not all) of you have experienced driving down the highway and can relate to this imagery. Indeed, driving on the millions of miles of American highways is as embedded in our culture as hot dogs.

The United States highway network consists of 4 million miles of roads and streets. But did you know that building and maintaining a single mile of freeway takes as much energy as 200 homes in the U.S. use in one year? Or that it generates more waste than 1,200 homes produce annually? I certainly didn't.

Luckily, researchers from the University of Washington's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the engineering firm CH2M Hill have launched the world's first rating system for sustainable road construction.