Expedited Planning and Environmental Review of Highway Projects (2012) / Chapter Skim
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42 C h a p t e r 3 This chapter describes 24 expediting strategies. These descriptions are designed as stand-alone guides to the strategies and are intended to aid practitioners' understanding of how the strategies may apply to their projects.
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43 design errors; however, the agency frequently uses change orders to expend funds that are either freed by negotiations or legislatively allocated. UDOT employs change orders for this purpose on all projects, regardless of the contracting method.
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44 ensure that the change-control process is open to considering changes that may be appropriate and even necessary to advance a project or achieve other objectives. Changes to project design following project approval and environmental documentation can result in significant delays.
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45 Examples Milton–Madison Bridge Project This project formed the Milton–Madison management team (M3T) to facilitate the rapid and effective decision making needed for the project team to stay on track with their aggressive schedule to replace the Ohio River bridge between Milton, Kentucky, and Madison, Indiana.
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46 Constraints Addressed A project's context includes the surrounding environmental and community resources, as well as the stakeholders' interests and concerns. Developing and designing a project that fails to respond to the surrounding constraints and opportunities can be a substantial factor in project delay.
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47 are responsive to stakeholder input may more readily adapt to applying other CSS principles. Strategy 4: Coordinated and responsive agency Involvement • Strategy Group: External coordination and communication • Phases: Planning, NEPA, design • Decision Points: Any/all decision points Definition The need for permits and other regulatory approvals often increases the time required to complete the NEPA process, project design, and, of course, permitting.
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48 propose an approach based on that initial input. Agency coordination was also expedited through early agreements developed through the NEPA team-building work.
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49 • Identify the individual people or positions to which disputes will be elevated; and • Describe a process for reviewing and modifying the resolution procedure as needed. Constraints Addressed Transportation projects, especially large ones, do not successfully advance without receiving significant approvals at various milestones.
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50 commissioner, in consultation with the governor, needed to approve removing some approaches on the Indiana side of the river from the project's scope. Effectiveness Schedule Quickly resolving disputes and not letting them languish will directly reduce project delays and can expedite delivery.
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51 agencies and helping to better link planning and environmental reviews. The liaisons also were critical in resolving conflicts and overcoming barriers between agencies.
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52 even when efficiency gains had not been documented. Better relationships between the agencies were often mentioned.
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53 dialogue surrounding projects, especially very large projects that are not funded, often includes references to the fact that there are no funds to construct the project and therefore there is no need to rush decisions. This is often cited as a reason for delaying difficult decisions and extending timelines.
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54 quickly and efficiently. The project manager and other project leadership also agreed to conduct quick internal reviews.
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55 Constraints Addressed Parties often enter the environmental review process with different missions, expectations, and points of view. These disparate perspectives can result in increasing amounts of conflict and protracted negotiations during the planning of, and NEPA evaluations for, transportation projects and when decisions are required that narrow possible outcomes.
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56 Applicability This approach is transferable to nearly any agency and project. All projects would benefit from an up-front facilitated alignment of expectations.
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57 planning that integrates land use and infrastructure planning to meet the community's needs while addressing economic development, environmental protection and equity" (16)
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58 with stakeholders and made a commitment of no net increase in right-of-way. This addressed the primary concerns and kept relocations to a very low level.
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59 of this strategy is to avoid the significant costs associated with construction delay, which generally more than offset the cost of the incentive program. In the case of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge project, the Virginia DOT spent approximately $1.1 million on incentives to relocate residents 7 months earlier than originally planned, saving approximately $6 million in construction costs.
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60 Example The Milton–Madison Bridge project hired a dedicated media relations manager with significant career experience in the news industry as a reporter, producer, and news director who helped to anticipate potential pitfalls with reporters; as a result, the project was prepared to proactively address these issues instead of respond to them after they had already sparked controversy. Effectiveness Schedule Employing a media relations manager can help a project to avoid the setbacks and delay that often occur if media coverage turns sour.
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61 an agreed-on method. Second, no performance standard should be agreed on without review by appropriate representatives from DOT design, construction, and maintenance staff.
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62 Strategy 14: planning and environmental Linkages • Strategy Group: Decision making • Phases: Planning, NEPA • Decision Points: Multiple decision points Definition The NEPA phase can be expedited by using work and decision making done during prior planning studies. Planning studies often produce valuable data, analysis, and decisions that can be leveraged during the NEPA process to reduce the time and effort required to develop a range of alternatives, evaluate alternatives, and produce environmental documentation.
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63 District of Columbia's 11th Street Bridges EIS During the planning phase of this project, DDOT engaged the public, collected considerable data, and analyzed the transportation issues and community issues. They used this information to formulate responsive concepts for the project, develop cost estimates, and secure local funding.
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64 Definition Since environmental factors play a key role in NEPA, early environmental analysis at the planning level is widely recognized as an important tool for streamlining subsequent project development. However, assessing the wide range of environmental issues addressed during project design and NEPA can be challenging as DOTs and MPOs often lack data and the tools necessary to consistently consider them during broad planning studies.
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65 Risks Although evaluating environmental considerations early, during planning, can help DOTs and MPOs reduce their risks later by identifying potential issues of concern or fatal flaws before they make commitments to developing a project and beginning NEPA documentation, there is a risk that analysis and decisions from the planning phase could be considered outdated if projects are significantly delayed between the planning and NEPA phases. Other Benefits Assessment and consideration of environmental criteria can make planning studies more meaningful, not just for the DOT or MPO, but also for resource agencies, stakeholder groups, and the general public.
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66 can occur when multiple agencies perform similar functions. Delays can also be avoided or reduced on projects that SHPO and FHWA agree are unlikely to affect historic or archaeological resources and can thus go through an expedited review process or even avoid review outside the DOT entirely.
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67 In addition, considerable time can be spent permitting the various individual projects that a transportation agency implements over several years. It is likely that a number of those projects and permits will cover similar issues, draw similar conclusions, and follow similar procedures.
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68 Cost Overall, permitting costs tend to be substantially reduced. However, this strategy requires making funding available up front to develop the programmatic permit.
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69 changes to documentation style and even analysis. This can be especially time consuming if later reviewers' comments conflict with those of previous reviewers, requiring additional coordination to reconcile these differences.
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70 few agencies, but the benefits are even greater if more agencies can simultaneously and cooperatively complete reviews. Co-location of the project team can help to facilitate jointly drafting or reviewing and revising the environmental document.
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71 should ultimately reduce uncertainty for individual projects. Relying on the techniques outlined in the framework should generally be a far less risky approach than developing an approach on each project.
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72 Eugene, Oregon, ODOT project on the Beltline interchange, ODOT and FHWA used an innovative intergovernmental agreement to shift project design responsibilities to the City of Springfield to reconcile local preferences with federal standards. More often, DOTs transfer risk forward; for example, on the US-285 EA in Colorado, the issue of induced growth and potential future transit need was explicitly left to be addressed in 20 years.
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73 Effectiveness Schedule Risk management strategies are designed to identify and avoid or reduce schedule disruptions and delay. Cost The task of actively identifying, characterizing, tracking, and managing risk adds another line item to project budgets.
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74 challenges that arose while coordinating several major capital improvement projects that involved many different federal, state, and local agencies. This approach addressed concerns regarding the readiness (e.g., adequate staffing, availability, and expertise)
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75 CDOT and the Regional Transportation District, as well as FTA and FHWA, supported by the physical co-location of the project team. CDOT and Regional Transportation District staff assigned to the project were co-located in an office building with NEPA consultant Carter-Burgess and its subconsultants.
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76 Cost This strategy often requires additional office space to house project staff together in a single location, requiring funding for rent, additional infrastructure, and other ancillary costs of maintaining a new or expanded office. Risks Leasing commitments and acquisition of new infrastructure and office equipment can pose a risk if the project is un expectedly put on hold or shut down.
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77 process for the public and stakeholder groups following the project's progress. This strategy can help to address the following constraints: • Issues arising late cause project change; • Unusually large scale of and/or complex project or program; and • Inability to maintain agreement.
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78 Early commitments to improve resources can allow transportation agencies to avoid the protracted debate and negotiations that can delay environmental documentation, permitting, and project design. While the specific nature of these commitments will vary widely depending on project type, the surrounding environment, and agency and stakeholder interests, several elements are common to this strategy that prevent impediments during project development and NEPA documentation.
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79 how the unavoidable impacts to an NPS property could not only be mitigated, but how the resource's value could be improved, the project leaders were able to use a Section 4(f) net benefit programmatic agreement, thus reducing the time required to complete the final Section 4(f)
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80 5. Center for Environmental Excellence by AASHTO.
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