Documenting and Verifying Environmental Commitments

State departments of transportation (DOTs) and other transportation agencies routinely establish commitments to complete specific environmental impact avoidance or mitigation as part of project planning and design under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and related federal and state laws and regulations. Federal agencies and state DOTs are responsible for ensuring these legally binding commitments are implemented throughout the life of a project and ultimately fulfilled. Proper implementation of environmental commitments affects all phases of project delivery including planning, design, construction, operations, and maintenance. Tracking environmental commitments is essential to ensuring that specific commitments are implemented. DOTs face challenges in the successful documentation and verification of such commitments. Common challenges include inconsistencies with terminology and language and failure to ensure that commitments are incorporated into design, construction, operations, and maintenance. Lost and unfulfilled commitments can lead to legal issues, violations and fines from regulatory agencies, loss of public trust, and ultimately poor environmental outcomes. Research is needed to provide a comprehensive approach to documenting and verifying environmental commitments. The objective of this research is to produce a documentation and verification process workflow with tools to facilitate the definition, implementation, monitoring, verification, and maintenance of environmental commitments established through the life of a project.

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=5365
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contract to a Performing Organization has not yet been awarded.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Proposed
• Funding: $350000
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 25-68

• Sponsor Organizations:

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

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

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Weeks, Jennifer

• Start Date: 20230605
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Environmental monitoring; Project delivery; State departments of transportation; Tracking systems
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Environment; Transportation (General);

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01846748
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 25-68
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: May 24 2022 10:57AM