Transportation Planning Capacity Building Program- Peer Exchange Report -Tennessee Department of Transportation and North Carolina Department of Transportation Peer-to-Peer ExchangeNorth Carolina Peer Exchange to Improve Environmental Processes
I. SummaryThe following report summarizes the results of a Peer Exchange held through the Transportation Planning Capacity Building (TPCB) Program, which is jointly sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The North Carolina Department of Transportation's (NCDOT) Office of Environmental Quality hosted a two and one half day workshop for the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) in order to help illuminate recent and ongoing developments with NCDOT's planning, environmental, and streamlining processes and organizational operations. A primary objective of the Peer Exchange was to provide TDOT with ideas, explanations, and, sometimes, anecdotal insight into how TDOT might begin institutionalizing new planning and environmental procedures similar to those NCDOT incorporates. Currently, TDOT is evaluating its planning and environmental processes and organizational structure and is seeking to become better equipped with the knowledge and information necessary to improve its operations. NCDOT's presentations and discussions focused on the organization of NCDOT, the Department's environmental streamlining processes, relationships with regulatory agencies, and context sensitive solutions. Other topics discussed included noise wall, air quality, and farmland impact issues, wetlands and stream mitigation, and NCDOT's Geographic Information System (GIS) activities. K. Lynn Berry of the FHWA Resource Center in Atlanta, GA facilitated the Peer Exchange. Participants included transportation professionals with diverse backgrounds from NCDOT, TDOT, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), FHWA NC Division, FHWA TN Division, FHWA Resource Center, and the USDOT Volpe Center. The Peer Exchange was held from December 15th to 17th, 2003 in Raleigh, NC. II. BackgroundTDOT is beginning the development of its first long-range strategic statewide multimodal transportation plan. A comprehensive environmental screening component is being included in the plan, allowing for the improvement of the implementation of environmental regulations. TDOT also intends to advance project schedule and budget planning and to ensure that environmental processes are streamlined, meeting one of its program goals. However, currently, TDOT is confronting organizational and programmatic designs that may hinder the ease with which streamlining goals are realized. NCDOT faced many of TDOT's present issues during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Having already managed these and other matters, NCDOT is well along in the restructuring of organizational arrangements and in the overhaul of many of its environmental processes. NCDOT continues to seek an efficient integration of systems planning and project development. NCDOT is in charge of the second largest state-maintained road network in the U.S.; over 78,000 of North Carolina's approximately 101,000 miles of roads are owned and maintained by NCDOT. The Department has an annual budget of $3.2 billion, of which $800 million is contributed by FHWA. Projections indicate that in 25 years, North Carolina roads will experience a 25-30% increase in lane miles and a 100% increase in usage. NCDOT has 2,700 projects in the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), 40 to 50 ongoing Environmental Impact Statements (EIS), and over 100 active Environmental Assessments (EA). TDOT, on the other hand, administers about 15,000 miles of Tennessee state-maintained roads, while managing fewer than 10 EIS's and 40 to 50 EA's. Despite the dissimilarity of program scale between the two State DOTs, NCDOT can positively impact how TDOT's future planning and environmental endeavors are addressed and realized by sharing experiences and lessons learned, as well as difficulties in and downsides to the development and evolution of similar functions in North Carolina. III. Perspectives and IssuesThe two and one-half day Peer Exchange included both formal presentations and opportunities for informal group discourse. The NCDOT workshop planners created a working agenda based on TDOT's request outlining proposed topic areas of interest. Group discussion along agenda lines allowed for many perspectives and issues to be explained and engaged. 1. NCDOT's Environment and Planning Organizational Structure Don Lee, Roger Sheats, Roy Shelton, John Sullivan, Don Voelker NCDOT has 12,500 employees divided among eight primary business units: Financial Management; Information Technology; Motor Vehicles; Intergovernmental Affairs and Budget Coordination; Environment, Planning and Local Government Affairs; Highways; Administration and Business Development; and Transit. The Division of Highways includes 14 divisions that are responsible for all maintenance and construction activities. The Office of Environment, Planning and Local Government Affairs, centrally located in Raleigh, is primarily responsible for the environmentally-related preconstruction activities. This Office is sub-divided into the following four branches:
The Statewide Planning Branch and PDEA also are working together to make planning and project development a seamless endeavor. With the Department's guidance, 20 RPOs have been established, enabling rural areas to become a viable part of the transportation planning process. While not given the same resources as the State's 17 MPOs, North Carolina's RPOs have become effective partners in the process. Both the MPOs and RPOs collaborate closely with branches of the Office of Environment, Planning and Local Government. Once a week, the managers of these four branches meet to coordinate efforts. Once a month, the senior staff of NCDOT, FHWA, USACE, and the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) meet to discuss policy issues and remain abreast of successes and concerns in program areas. Furthermore, NCDOT maintains a close partnership with the NC Department of Commerce (DOC), meeting quarterly with DENR and DOC to coordinate work plans and common goals. The Governor of North Carolina has established a Board of Transportation composed of 19 staggered-termed appointees representing NCDOT's 14 divisions with several at-large members. One of these board members represents the environmental interests. The Board of Transportation approves all expenditures of money for transportation project development, right of way, construction, and maintenance. The Board has also developed a 10-member standing Environmental Planning and Policy Committee (EPPC). This group works to elevate the importance of environmental issues in transportation planning. The EPPC meets monthly to educate themselves about on-going environmental issues, to discuss program concerns, and to debate and approve policy. NCDOT also has funded 31 positions at other resource agencies, including DENR, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), among others. A weakness of this arrangement has been that the allocation of more resources toward interagency coordination of environmental issues has resulted in the resource agencies requesting additional data and analysis, resulting in a more robust and time-consuming project delivery process. Nevertheless, by cultivating intra- and interagency relationships, a cross-boundary trust has been developed and NCDOT has been able to extend its mission across traditional margins - timely delivery with environmental excellence. 2. STREAMLINING PROCESSES2A. Malcolm Baldridge Criteria To NCDOT, streamlining means not only completing a project more quickly, but also producing a higher quality project. Currently, NCDOT supports many environmental stewardship and streamlining initiatives. In an effort to organize these enterprises, as well as future ideas and improvements, NCDOT uses the Malcom Baldrige criteria. The criteria are an excellence criteria framework used to improve overall performance of an organization. The criteria's seven categories are summarized below. NCDOT has added an eighth criterion, "Trusting Partnerships"; in NCDOT's view, trusting partnerships is also a critical success factor in delivering timely and environmentally sound projects.
To accompany the Baldridge actions, NCDOT also trains employees, agencies, local governments, consultants, and contractors in context sensitive solutions (CSS). A "Training Administrator" position has been created, and, to date, 500 people have been trained in CSS. NCDOT expects to have trained 2,000 individuals by the end of 2004. NCDOT has also established Community Impact Assessment (CIA) Guidelines and a Project Management Improvement Initiative (PMII). The former guides planners in building and documenting oral histories in order to comprehensively understand community values, resources, and changing attitudes before the project details are decided. The latter provides a unified work schedule that allows for tracking of time, cost, and flow of work from branch to branch within the Department. PMII coordination begins as soon as a project enters the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), maximizing the use of employee time and resources. The project is mapped out and responsibilities are determined, helping to instill project predictability in terms of time, resources, and public expectations. 2B. Merger 01 Process In the early 1990s, the threat of a Notice of Violations (NOV) meant to construction companies a threat of project shutdown. Intending to ensure environmental compliance, NCDOT was fining projects that did not meet NCDOT's environmental goals $5,000 to $10,000 per day. Unlike TDOT, NCDOT was empowered to "hit projects in the wallet." However, project shutdown was not the focus of NCDOT's NOV Program. Instead, NCDOT wanted to foster environmental concern in design and build decisions, and it was willing to work with agencies to come up with effective, feasible designs. For most projects, NCDOT conducts environmental pre-construction meetings with contractors to educate those involved in the construction process about environmental commitment expectations and construction permit details. NCDOT also offers economic double incentives to contractors not incurring any NOVs or Immediate Corrective Action (ICAs); for some contracts, NCDOT will now pay $5,000 monthly to contractors who incur no ICAs or NOVs versus a penalization for an incurred ICA or NOV. The following table summarizes NCDOT's ICA and NOV Processes:
Economic incentives were not the only response to historical problems and delays with permitting processes and letting dates. NCDOT also developed the Merger 01 process, which integrates the NEPA and 404 permitting processes. Merger 01 is intended to improve interagency coordination and process efficiency. The process better allows for the improvement and enhancement of the environment, the optimal use of human resources, and ultimately the on-schedule construction of necessary transportation projects. Within the Merger 01 framework, an interagency project team, consisting of NCDOT and applicable regulatory agency and local government members is formed in order to review environmental and engineering data and reach concurrence at a project's major milestones. Concurrence provides buy-in of team members at each decision point, and once decisions are concurred upon, they are not revisited. Merger 01 Concurrence Points for new location projects are summarized below:
4A. Wetlands and streams are delineated. Preliminary 30% hydraulic design, storm water devices, and bridges/culverts are discussed and reviewed. The Merger 01 process for widening-projects include the same concurrence points but is a more condensed process. A problem that NCDOT has experienced with Merger 01 is that the public is not included in the process as much as many would desire. Instead of direct public contact, community sentiments are brought in by the inclusion of MPOs and RPOs in the Concurrence Point decision-making meetings. NCDOT also brings comments from the public to the Merger 01 team for their consideration. 3. Relationships with Regulatory Agencies
NCDOT noted that in the past it was difficult to get collaborating agencies to take risks and make commitments early in the planning process. In order to surmount interagency differences, NCDOT has worked to establish close partnerships and a sense of trust by garnering the involvement of all related agencies. For example, at one point the working relationship between NCDOT and USACE Wilmington District had been diminished to frequent arguing. To address this, leadership at NCDOT and USACE made a concerted effort to improve working relationships. NCDOT agreed to better communicate its project priorities, dedicate staff at USACE to be compatible with NCDOT's workload, and collaborate on process improvement initiatives. The USACE now staffs 10 employees dedicated solely to the development, permitting, and regulatory supervision of transportation projects in North Carolina. This arrangement has reduced the amount of impediments to communication and work coordination. Another interagency partnering success involves the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR). By statute, NCDENR manages erosion control. Through close collaboration, NCDENR delegated erosion control authority in transportation projects to NCDOT. In order to maintain the regulatory agency's trust and to be successful in quality control, NCDOT established and staffed environmental self-monitoring groups in each of its 14 divisions. Interagency consultation and cooperation is helping NCDOT succeed in its pre-TIP planning activities. NCDOT is piloting a pre-TIP process that engages resource agencies at the systems planning stage; the purpose of the process is to identify and avoid the adoption of corridors on a transportation plan that may have "fatal flaws." NCDOT and the resource agencies are also working to finalize a High Quality Resources (HQR) policy that will ensure that such resources are avoided to the maximum extent practicable during the systems planning stages. NCDOT then is better equipped to develop schedules and cost estimates, including mitigation costs, with increased predictability. Most importantly, the policy will result in transportation projects that are less environmentally disruptive. NCDOT also aims to minimize environmental impacts through its "Project Commitments Greensheets" process. Greensheets, prepared by NCDOT's PDEA branch, list and summarize all of the environmental commitments made for a specific project. Along with listing commitments, each NCDOT branch or division responsible for an individual commitment is designated on the Greensheet. The PDEA Branch distributes the NEPA commitments to design staff for inclusion in the Preliminary Field Inspection Plans. After regulatory review and design input, the revised commitments are distributed again and included in the Final Field Inspection Package. The final version of the commitments is combined with the permit special conditions to make up the Project Commitment Greensheet, which is distributed by the PDEA Branch as part of the permit package, and distributed to all agencies on the distribution list. 4. Wetlands and Stream Mitigation
In order to improve the effectiveness of the compensatory mitigation program, NCDOT partnered with USACE, Wilmington District, DENR, FHWA, and other state and Federal agencies to establish the Ecosystem Enhancement Program (EEP). The mission of EEP officially created by an MOA signed on July 22, 2003, is to protect the natural resources of North Carolina through the assessment, restoration, enhancement and preservation of ecosystem functions and compensation for development impacts at the watershed level. By setting expectations for watershed based planning and timetables for delivery of effective mitigation accounting and reporting systems, EEP is a strategy to provide for the mitigation of unavoidable impacts caused by transportation projects. The program also is anticipated to help facilitate responsible growth within North Carolina. The EEP concept was formed out of a mitigation process improvement initiative in Fall 2001. During the initiative's workshops, it was determined that compensatory mitigation should be "de-coupled" from individual permits and project reviews, and performed on a watershed basis - with mitigation projects constructed in advance of permitted impacts. Historically, mitigation projects were not started until after a roadway project was under construction. This caused several problems. First, the regulatory agencies were concerned that the impact to the environment occurred before mitigation had begun. Second, many of the mitigation sites did not perform as planned, resulting in remedial action, such as a permit modification or an addition of a new mitigation site to account for the failure. Mitigation was not normally satisfied until a five to seven year monitoring period was completed and the site closed. EEP helps make funding available to NCDOT so that each year when a new TIP is produced and a new impact projection made, the intensity of out-year projects (seven years or more into the future) can be adjusted. The mitigation that is built and banked has a cash value that can be allocated for projects when the need arises. Under the new permitting process, environmental issues and needs, including anticipated impacts for the following year, are identified and considered early in the project development and design process. Up-front compensatory mitigation is developed for project impacts, allowing the permitting process to continue efficiently. Since formalizing the program in Summer 2003, EEP has moved into its transitional stages and will be fully operational in 2005. To complete transition to the program, staff resources will continue to be augmented and reorganized, additional high quality resource enhancement and preservation opportunities will be identified, and a multi-agency framing team for watershed assessment will be created. 5. Context Sensitive Solutions and Personnel Training
NCDOT is committed to integrating context sensitive solutions (CSS) into transportation projects. The Department takes a project's context into account during both planning and final construction design in order to develop transportation products that fit into the environment. NCDOT offers a 3-day detailed training course in CSS. With assistance from North Carolina State University's (NCSU) Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE), NCDOT created the course, which uses role-playing, case studies, and lecturers, to train approximately 2,000 people per year ($325/person) in context sensitive maintenance and construction planning. CTE delivers the course and makes modifications based on input received from class participants, a group which includes NCDOT, resource agencies, and local government employees, as well as consultants and contractors. NCDOT is also providing opportunity for employee development by offering a course based on Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective People." The concepts associated with the course help employees expand their interpersonal skills, including effective communication skills and relationship building. NCDOT has also implemented a skill-based compensation system in certain areas. As workers learn skills, they can elevate their income in a pay track that rewards these skills and not a number of years worked. 6. Noise Wall, Air Quality, Landscaping, and Farmland Impact Issues
Noise Walls - Mr. Carl Goode discussed aspects of NCDOT's current and proposed noise wall strategies. At present, staffed with two noise technicians and three noise engineers, NCDOT is drafting a new traffic noise abatement policy. The policy, which applies only to "Type I" projects for state, federal, or federal-aid highway projects, provides for the evaluation of sound barriers and other noise mitigation measures; NCDOT does not participate in "Type II" projects. The document was deliberately drafted in a concise and clear manner, helping to ensure broad public comprehension. Key aspects of NCDOT's noise policy are summarized below:
Air Quality - Project Level Analysis - Mr. Steve Walker gave an overview of procedures NCDOT uses to address air quality issues in project development. Most notably, NCDOT participates in monthly interagency meetings to discuss, among other topics, air quality issues. By having almost continuous interaction and collaboration, "finger pointing" regarding air quality issues can be avoided. An energetic air quality staff, of which one position is an air quality specialist, allows NCDOT to maintain open and well-informed communication with partners. Additionally, NCDOT performs in-house air quality analyses for all proposed intersections. Landscaping - Mr. Steve Walker described how NCDOT funds landscaping improvements. For all highway projects, a percentage of the total estimated project cost can be used for aesthetic landscaping improvements. Up to one percent can be applied for landscaping on Interstate projects, while 0.75% and 0.5% can be used on urban and rural projects, respectively. These improvements are in addition to any landscaping improvements that may have been included as mitigation for the project. Farmland Impact Issues - Ms. Gail Grimes briefly spoke about the steps NCDOT must follow when planning highways in rural, farmland areas. First, NCDOT completes the Farmland Protection Policy Act Valuation Form. Since farmers can be concerned with their fields being fragmented by highways, NCDOT also assesses community sentiment. By performing a Community Impact Assessment (CIA), NCDOT can determine better if farmland preservation is a community value and if the farmers in the area have special needs (connectivity, equipment access, etc.). During the discussion, TDOT asked NCDOT what NCDOT considered most valued in areas where historic, wetland, and farmland resources were all present. NCDOT indicated that impacts are considered on a case-by-case basis, and the "trumping" resource depended on the context and intensity of the resource and potential impacts. 7. Indirect and Cumulative Impacts In 1999, NCDOT decided to update the cumulative impacts guidance and to standardize and enhance the way indirect and cumulative impacts are addressed. The decision to better address the evaluation of these impacts came in response to legal issues NCDOT was facing during the development of projects in North Carolina's Outer Banks region. The cumulative and indirect impacts guidance was drafted from "ground zero." NCDOT hired a consulting firm (Louis-Berger, NYC) to draft the guidance so that clear answers could be provided to procedural questions in court. DENR, agreeing with its methodology, signed onto the guidance with NCDOT, also helping to minimize future legal issues. Since that time, NCDOT has considered potential cumulative and indirect impacts throughout the systems planning and analysis steps of a project, resulting in the identification of possible growth strategies that protect natural resources. NCDOT also makes sure that cumulative and indirect impact analysis occurs early in the EIS process. Analyzing the cumulative and secondary impacts on a project better equips NCDOT with the knowledge necessary to respond to legal challenges and stakeholder inquiries and to meet environmental requirements and goals. 8. NCDOT's GIS Activities
Viewing GIS as a tool and not an IT application, NCDOT made a $750,000 investment in 2001 to improve its GIS program. Since then, NCDOT has developed an award winning GIS program. NCDOT uses GIS to improve the environmental review process and to further integrate statewide planning and project development activities. GIS activities also have allowed NCDOT to effectively and efficiently appraise project alternatives in response to public or agency comments. At present, NCDOT is developing a Linear Referencing System (LRS) based on its existing data universe file that contains existing road attributes, including, among others, route numbers, road classifications, numbers of lanes, shoulder widths, and traffic counts. As the data for these existing attributes are reviewed and revised, the new data elements will be released to the LRS. To date, 9 of the 54 attributes have been assessed, validated, and released. Once these are complete, additional identified attributes will be developed and attached to the LRS. Except for the highway data layer, NCDOT does not perform data collection. NCDOT relies on other outlets (pavement management, bridge maintenance, traffic surveys, traffic engineering) to provide data for the universe file and the LRS. Through a close partnership with the North Carolina Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (CGIA), NCDOT has begun creating data and data-sharing standards. With open communication and clear data standards, NCDOT will be able to continue advancing its GIS activities. Some of NCDOT's more notable GIS activities include:
IV. Lessons Learned/RecommendationsJulie Hunkins, Greg Thorpe, Marcus Wilner, TN ParticipantsDuring the last day of the TPCB Peer Exchange, a plainspoken conversation allowed NCDOT to respond to primary needs, concerns, and goals as voiced by TDOT. Comments and questions raised by TDOT in response to the topic discussions summarized above provided NCDOT the opportunity to reiterate lessons learned and their recommendations. Suggested next steps for TDOT include:
Existing BarriersIn order to achieve some of the milestones described above, TDOT must overcome existing barriers to planning process change. By adopting "systems planning" into the planning language, time, money, and other resources can be allocated more efficiently and effectively. TDOT may also consider funding a position dedicated to streamlining processes and initiatives. A streamlining position might allow TDOT to work with staff to improve interagency relationships and better advocate for comprehensive strategic thinking and planning. ----------VI. For More Information
VII. Attendees List
VIII. Attachments/LinksLinks Tennessee DOTNC Board of Transportation NCDOT Environmental Stewardship and Streamlining Website NCDOT Office of Environmental Quality NCDOT Project Development and Environmental Analysis Branch NCDOT Statewide Planning Branch NCDOT GIS Unit North Carolina GIS Archaeological Predictive Model Project Attachments AGENDA - Tennessee Department of Transportation and North Carolina Department of Transportation Peer-to-Peer Exchange
NCDOT's Transportation Decision-Making Process Memorandum of Agreement among the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the North Carolina Department of Transportation and the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Wilmington District.
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