Road infrastructure in India is growing speedily. Vision (2030) anticipates a quality, dependable, sustainable, resilient infrastructure, and sound technology. Road infrastructure can be built by using the sustainability concept. A conventional road causes environmental and social issues as well as affects the economy of road infrastructure. To overcome this problem sustainable planning is a very prominent solution. By reviewing research papers of the previous 30 years, life cycle cost analysis seems to be a key method for achieving required growth. Further, along with life cycle cost analysis, various other techniques such as Project Definition Rating Index (PDRI) and Project Rework Reduction Tool (PRRT) suggested by the researchers are also inferred. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.