Page 69 - Highway Engineering Handbook Building and Rehabilitating the Infrastructure

52 CHAPTER ONE

to lead, employee training, signage, record keeping, and employees’ right to observe and
review monitoring information.

Preparing Environmental Protection Monitoring Plans. The procedures developed to
verify environmental protection should include high-volume air samplers, tests for visible air
emissions (opacity), personal air quality monitors, measurement (and reporting requirements)
of unauthorized releases, and pre- and postproject soil quality and water quality sampling.
Developing Procedures for the Control and Handling of Hazardous Waste. Assuming
that hazardous waste is to be generated, plans should be developed for identifying the
waste, obtaining a hazardous waste generator identification number from the EPA, prepar-
ing for proper notification and certifications with each shipment, preparing waste mani-
fests, packaging and labeling waste, implementing contingency plans, conducting waste
treatment and analysis for on-site handling, and record keeping.

Designing a Containment and Ventilation Plan. The contractor should develop detailed
plans to select appropriate support structures and containment, address ventilation and
other worker safety issues, provide emissions control, achieve water and soil protection and
debris recovery, and verify the integrity of the containment structure.
Monitoring the Project. The project manager should develop a plan to monitor the ade-
quacy of all of the control measures; visually monitor the project regularly and use
approved testing methods to evaluate adequacy of controls; regularly monitor the ventila-
tion system and the integrity of the containment; regularly examine waste storage facilities,
and the handling and transportation methods and procedures; and verify worker protection
and hygiene procedures. OSHA standards must be observed. Figure 1.2 illustrates a deci-
sion tree to aid in the management of lead paint removal.

1.6 RESOURCE RECOVERY AND USE
OF WASTE MATERIAL

Given the vast amount of building materials required to construct and maintain the trans-
portation infrastructure in the United States, the country’s highway system represents a
tremendous opportunity for the beneficial use of reclaimed and recycled resources.
However, the reclamation and reuse of waste material must be done in an environmentally
responsible manner.
The handling, disposal, and reuse of solid waste is regulated by a number of environ-
mental statutes. Increased cost of complying with these requirements has increased the
appeal of recycling and resource management. Because solid waste material is not as uni-
form as raw materials, the characteristics, performance, cost of preparing, and application
of solid waste vary with the source and type of the material. Results in highway applica-
tions vary considerably and depend on such parameters as climate, composition, material
handling practices, and construction procedures. Factors to be considered when recycling
a waste to a highway construction end use include the following [National Cooperative
Highway Research Program (NCHRP), Transportation Research Board, Synthesis 199,
Recycling and Use of Waste Materials and By-Products in Highway Construction: A
Synthesis of Highway Practice, Washington D.C., 1994]:

Environmental Threats and Benefits. Along with the considerable environmental bene-
fit of reducing the landfill burden, potential threats to the environment caused by the use of