Schema for interoperable representation of environmental and social costs in highway construction

Decision makers and designers have utilized various methods for quantifying the environmental and social impacts of highway projects. However, the definition of these impacts, their costs, and their estimation methods lack interoperability. A schema is proposed to support interoperable documentation of relevant knowledge related to the environmental and social costs (E&S) of highway projects. The schema identifies the E&S impacts associated with each project element, lists possible impacted entities, provides access and description to existing methods to estimate associated E&S costs, and provides links to best practices to mitigate such impacts. The schema was encoded into an extensible markup language. The schema was developed based on a synthesis of the different ways for cost estimation, cost estimates, and best practices for managing the E&S costs of highway construction. The schema was evaluated through interviews with domain experts and through analysis of three representative case studies. An interactive Web site was developed to support project teams establish a unified view of the costs, their estimates, and best practices to control them.