The Real Price – Holistic Cost-Efficiency Considerations in Design and Construction of Infrastructure Projects

摘要

The present paper focuses on holistic sustainability evaluations for infrastructure measures and thernrelated engineering structures. Following a brief overview on the current state of development ofrnrating concepts both in the building and infrastructure sector, general options for assessing the overallrnsustainability are discussed and some major infrastructure-specific characteristics regarding thernholistic performance are explained. Since indirect (external) effects often play an important role inrnthe assessment of infrastructure measures, the respective influence on the overall performance andrnthe interrelation between direct and indirect costs are exemplarily discussed by means of threernexamples (road infrastructure). Hereby, it is shown that the indirect costs easily may reach a levelrnbeing in the range of the construction costs of the entire project and that an initial additionalrninvestment during construction in high-quality structural members and components is beingrntypically paid off by a reduced maintenance effort, even if the external effects are not included.