Nurturing an environmental perspective: A scan tour of seven States sheds light on best practices for honoring environmental commitments in transportation projects

Public Roads, July-August, 2003 by Ruth Rentch, Rachael Barolsky

When developing a transportation project, the sponsors of the project identify and analyze the impacts on the natural and human environment. They outline how they plan to mitigate those impacts through environmental commitments, incorporating these into documents required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or in the mandated permits for the project. Such commitments, clearly delineated in the final NEPA decision document or in the permits, must be integrated into the project design, executed during construction, and then maintained during operation.

Successfully implementing environmental commitments is a challenge because often the commitments are made early in the design and planning phases, but the information is not conveyed effectively during the construction and operation phases. Personnel in the State department of transportation (DOT) and contractors responsible for actually building the highway may not be aware, for example, that a project calls for special provisions to minimize runoff or preserve a historic building. The challenge is to ensure that commitments to protecting environmental and cultural resources are honored during construction through continuous communication.

In late 2002, the Office of Project Development and Environmental Review at the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) sponsored a domestic scan tour to review State practices for implementing environmental commitments. By reviewing successful processes, procedures, and methodologies, the scan team's goal was to provide a framework for helping States benefit from the experiences of other DOTs.

Participating States

All transportation projects require environmental analyses, but a project's potential impact on the environment often determines the extent of analysis and the types of documents required. Local geography, topography, and demographics are among the factors that influence the determination of specific commitments and the methods for implementation.

The FHWA scan team visited Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Texas, and Wyoming. The seven States vary in the size and maturity of their transportation systems and offer a diversity of approaches, proving that success can be achieved in many ways.

The Scan Team

Because the decisionmaking processes for NEPA and issuing permits involves the coordination of many Federal and State agencies, FHWA strived to ensure that the composition of the scan team reflected a cross section of those involved in these processes.

The team consisted of representatives from FHWA's Office of Project Development and Environmental Review, FHWA Division Offices, State DOTs, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and the American Road and Transportation Builders Association. With expertise in areas from transportation engineering to environmental protection, the team was able to cover a broad range of issues during its State visits.

Environmental Ethic

After the site visits, the team identified several common themes. The first critical element in implementing environmental commitments is the adoption of a strong environmental ethic that permeates the entire organization. By institutionalizing the commitment, DOTs can ensure that environmental documents and permits are implemented on a continuous basis. When leadership embraces and promotes the ethic, staff at all levels and areas of expertise are empowered to seek out innovative opportunities for environmental stewardship. As a result, stewardship becomes the way of conducting business.

Although adopting and institutionalizing an environmental culture may take years, several States already are experiencing the success that stems from a strong environmental ethic. According to Mary Ivey, acting director of the Environmental Analysis Bureau at the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), a top-down commitment and a pervasive environmental culture are keys to success.

"New York has had strong leadership with a commitment to doing good things for the environment," Ivey says. "We developed an environmental ethic that changed the culture at NYSDOT. And the longer we have this ethic out in front of people, the more they buy into it and recognize new opportunities in their dally work."

Ivey says that environmental enhancements and best practices offer gains everywhere across the department--from design and construction to maintenance. Projects need not have large price tags. She cites several low-cost environmental projects, such as creating access to fishing sites, partnering with communities to add street amenities (decorative fences, historic lighting, etc.), building fish ladders to facilitate upstream migration, and planting flowers in highway rights-of-way.

"One of the favorites around here is that we are building nesting boxes for peregrine falcons on bridges and scheduling construction work to avoid disrupting nesting females," she adds.