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meetings and kept informed on project status throughout. The agencyâs staff did not attend any meetings or participate in the pilot project. ⢠South Carolina Department of Archives and History (SCDAH) State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) provides consultation on Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The representative from SHPO attended the agency workshop, site visit, and all meetings. While the pilot project did not have cultural resource impacts, the SHPO representative remained engaged and interested in environmental process improvements. The SCDOT solicited letters of interest from all of the partner agencies. The purpose of the letter of interest was to describe the SHRP 2 C39A1 project and determine if the agency would participate in the TCAPP pilot project, when awarded. Letters indicating interest in participation were received from NOAA Fisheries, SCDAH-SHPO, and USFWS. All project partners were expected to interact directly with their agency decision makers, be present and prepared for research project meetings with decisive information on their agencyâs interests, and be responsive to research data-gathering requests. CHATS is a metropolitan planning organization (MPO) that oversees transportation planning and programming of improvements for the Berkeley, Charleston, Dorchester urbanized area in coordination with SCDOT and the local cities and counties. The Hoopstick Creek Bridge Replacement project originated from the CHATS MPO and is currently listed on the State Transportation Improvement Program. CHATS was not an agency partner for this project because the MPO is not typically involved in similar routine projects. CHATS would not be a decision maker or advisor for a project with categorical exclusion review. Also, as a categorical exclusion, the project did not require public hearings. Proposed Tasks The proposed schedule started on March 28, 2013, when the contract was signed. The following tasks were completed within the 16-month required time frame. Task 1: Training The SCDOT participated in a TCAPP training session hosted by AASHTO in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 29 and 30, 2013. Members of the team who attended the training session presented an overview for the remainder of the team. Task 2: Agency Workshop An agency workshop was held on August 29, 2013, at the SCDOT offices in Columbia, South Carolina. The purpose of this workshop was to provide agency partners with an overview of the SHRP 2 C39A1 project and the proposed pilot project on Hoopstick Creek on Johns Island, South Carolina. SCDOT and Tidewater personnel reviewed components of the TCAPP Decision Guide, partner and stakeholder definitions, and where the roles of partners were defined in each 13
key decision point. During this meeting, agency partners were given a Partner Collaboration Assessment from the TCAPP tool. After the meeting, the team met via conference call to discuss the outcomes of the workshop, successes, and challenges, and to adjust the schedule if necessary. CBC provided meeting minutes and a progress report outlining third-party perspectives on the workshop and methods for improving coordination. Task 3: Agency Coordination Effort Improvements The purpose of the ACE task was to improve interagency communication and collaboration processes by using the environmental permitting/NEPA section of the TCAPP Decision Guide. A goal of this task was to align the key decision points with SCDOTâs project planning process to better involve external agency decision makers in the project planning process. Another goal was to receive input from agencies at points in the permitting process when their comments would be more specific and accountable to enable the SCDOT to make project adjustments and/or decisions. The intended result of this task was to improve environmental approval streamlining and eliminate redundant or unnecessary efforts. The ACE task included a project team and agency site visit to Hoopstick Creek on Johns Island, South Carolina, on September 27, 2013. The site visit was followed by a meeting at SCDHEC-OCRM offices to discuss ENV-6 and ENV-7 from the TCAPP Decision Guide. A final meeting was held at the SCDOT offices with the team and agency partners on December 3, 2013. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss project elements related to ENV-10 and ENV- 12 from the TCAPP Decision Guide. During the final meeting, the SCDOT, Tidewater, and CBC hosted a roundtable with agency stakeholders to gather information on the quality and usefulness of the TCAPP application process. 14
