Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on Planning. Task 48. Guidance for Better Linking Systems Planning and the NEPA Process

NCHRP Project 8-38, "Consideration of Environmental Factors into Transportation Systems Planning," identified several examples in the United States where environmental factors were being incorporated into systems planning and described the tools that are currently being used to accomplish this. For example, Riverside County, CA, Tucson, AZ, and Colorado DOT have conducted extensive multispecies habitat studies that have become important components of transportation planning for those areas. Florida DOT has implemented a statewide systems planning and project development decision making process that considers environmental factors earlier in the planning effort (and which includes early acceptance of a needs and purpose statement by resource agencies). It is likely that similar types of efforts will become more common in the future. Although NCHRP Project 8-38 provided an important foundation for understanding the concept, specific guidance to state departmenta of transportation ( DOTs) on the data items or information formats used in systems planning that might satisfy some elements of the NEPA process was not provided. There is an important need for such guidance. The objective of this project is to provide guidance to state DOTs on how information currently produced in the systems planning process can be made more useful for addressing and resolving NEPA-level issues. Such information might include: the statement of purpose and need, record of public involvement, documentation of range of alternatives, identification of significant environmental and community impacts, and similar identification of indirect and cumulative impacts in conjunction with local land use planning. If appropriate, the guidance will be specific to certain types of environmental issues (e.g., multispecies habitat preservation), but generic enough to provide overall direction of these types of efforts.

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=1262

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $100000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 08-36, Task

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW, Suite 225
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Project Managers:

  McCready, Ronald

• Performing Organizations:

  AECOM Consulting Transportation Group

  2751 Prosperity Avenue
  Suite 300
  Fairfax, VA  United States  22031
• Start Date: 20041027
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 20060131
• Source Data: RiP Project 11667

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Data collection; Environmental impacts; Habitat (Ecology); Information systems; Research projects; State departments of transportation; Systems analysis; Transportation planning
• Identifier Terms: National Cooperative Highway Research Program
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; I15: Environment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01557239
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: National Cooperative Highway Research Program
• Contract Numbers: Project 08-36, Task
• Files: RIP
• Created Date: Mar 19 2015 1:01AM