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https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27432/critical-issues-in-transportation-for-2024-and-beyond

GIS Database for the Archeological Sensitivity of Rhode Island Department of Transportation's Highway Bridge Sites and Associated Roadway Approaches

This study will assess the archeological sensitivity of Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) bridge and associated roadway approaches for projects currently identified in the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and the RIDOT Project Management Portal (PMP) and, in doing so, will assist the Environmental and Cultural Resources Units of RIDOT in expediting the identification and evaluation phase if the Section 106 review process. The study will target all bridges in the TIP and PMP, including those that are scheduled by RIDOT for rehabilitation or replacement. The study will combine archeological, historical, and cartographic research with field survey. The deliverable will include a geospatial database with coverage for bridge footprints (buffered to 200 meters), known archeological sites in the vicinity of the bridges, known historic sites in the vicinity of the bridges, and, for priority bridges scheduled for replacement, cultural material identified during reconnaissance level survey of historic bridges and their surrounding areas. This later coverage would be tied or "hotlinked" to a library of geo-tagged photographs of the cultural material. The major benefit of this study is to complete the identification and evaluation phase of the Section 106 review process for all current bridge projects rather than undertaking this phase for each individual project on a project-by-project basis, as is current practice.