Implementation
Here is a set of indicators designed to help agencies identify areas where they have had success in strengthening planning and NEPA linkages, and areas where further work is needed to strengthen linkages. These indicators are also intended to help agencies identify available assistance and potential FHWA activities that could be undertaken to provide that assistance.
Indicators are grouped into five categories:
- Change Management
- Data and Analysis Tools
- Inter- and Intra- Agency Coordination
- Decision Process Refinement
- Linkage Activities Undertaken
To print the indicators checklist, view the PDF of the table below.
1. CHANGE MANAGEMENT |
Indicator |
Examples/Details |
Assistance Available |
1.1 Executive-level commitment |
Communication from executive management to staff level regarding agency's commitment to strengthening planning and environment linkages, including: internal memoranda, management directives, policy statements, or the like |
Read about Effective Practices
Learn about state activities in the
State Environmental Streamlining
and Stewardship Practices Database |
1.2 Champions and working groups |
- Internal leadership workshops
- Inter-agency leadership workshops
- Specific staffpersons or champions designated in key agency offices to oversee implementation of linkage activities
- Internal or inter-agency working groups convened
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Learn about FHWA's Linking Planning & NEPA Workshops |
1.3 Training and exchanges |
- Internal training or peer exchanges about linking planning and project development or transportation and land and resource planning
- Inter-agency training or peer exchanges about linking transportation, land use, and resource planning
|
See Trainings and Workshops |
1.4 Organizational structuring |
- Staff allocations to support linkages
- Interdisciplinary teams
- Crossover positions between one or more disciplines
|
Read about specific Case Studies
Learn about state activities in the
State Environmental Streamlining
and Stewardship Practices Database |
1.5 Performance measures |
- Detailed indicators of progress in strengthening planning and environment linkages
- Staff performance criteria that reflect strong planning and environment linkages (e.g., MPO coordination and support responsibilities for state DOT's MPO liaison and/or environment staff)
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Coming soon |
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2. DATA AND ANALYSIS TOOLS |
Indicator |
Examples/Details |
Assistance Available |
2.1 Documentation of existing geographic resource data and other information |
Example categories of data:
- Ecological resources
- Cultural assets
- Land use and development
- Demographics
- Transportation
Factors here might also include the quality and comprehensiveness of data layers.
|
Visit FHWA's website GIS in Transportation
Learn about state practices on GIS and
spatial data in the
State Environmental Streamlining and
Stewardship Practices Database
Learn about research on
"Technologies to Improve Environmental
Concerns in Transportation Decision Making"
(through the National Cooperative Highway Research Program) |
2.2 Continual data sharing among and within agencies |
- Level of cooperation achieved regarding sharing of data with resource agencies and other potential sources of data
- Information systems that support access by multiple agencies and departments within agencies, including updating of data
- Inter-agency data sharing agreements
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2.3 Tool for analysis and/or sharing |
Software tool that allows for information to be shared among and within agencies during the transport decision process, including web access and ability to record comments and decisions at multiple points
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2.4 Access to and use of geographic resource data by transportation staff |
- Planning and environmental staff are given access to data for use in planning and project development functions, and employ the data to conduct analysis and inform decision-making
- Factors here might include the frequency with which the data are used
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2.5 Efforts to improve data |
DOT staff engaged in gathering additional data or otherwise improving the quality and comprehensiveness of data
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3. INTER- AND INTRA- AGENCY COORDINATION |
Indicator |
Examples/Details |
Assistance Available |
3.1 Memoranda of Understanding/Agreement |
MOAs/MOUs stipulating arrangements among agencies regarding:
- Operating procedures
- Funding
- Programmatic approaches
- Dispute resolution procedures
- Other aspects of planning, project development, and reviews
|
Learn about state Interagency Agreements (MOAs, MOUs, and Programmatic Agreements) in the
State Environmental Streamlining and
Stewardship Practices Database |
3.2 Standing inter- and intra-agency coordination groups |
Inter- and intra-agency working groups, task forces, or committees that meet on an ongoing basis to focus on coordinating information exchange and collaborative decision-making
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Read the Interagency Guidance: Transportation Funding for Federal Agency Coordination Associated with Environmental Streamlining Activities
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3.3 Transfer-funded staff positions |
Inter-agency funding for staff positions specifically to support environmental considerations in planning (as opposed to only environmental review, consultation, and permitting activities)
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3.4 Positive staff perceptions of inter-agency coordination |
Factors here might include opinions from transportation agency staff and resource agency staff
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4. DECISION PROCESS REFINEMENT |
Indicator |
Examples/Details |
Assistance Available |
4.1 Documentation of current decision processes |
- Process mapping or other process analysis tool used to identify the major steps and roles within a decision process
- Transportation decision process made available to resource agencies and the public
|
Read about specific approaches on the Data and Analysis Tools page.
Learn about state activities in the
State Environmental Streamlining and
Stewardship Practices Database |
4.2 Documentation of new procedural or analysis guidance |
New procedures and guidance for environment linkages during planning, including analysis methods, procedures for involving key stakeholders, and 'handing off' planning products to project development staff, documented in agency publications such as:
- Corridor, metropolitan, or sub-area plan guidebooks
- Statewide plan guidebooks
- Project development guidebooks
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5. LINKAGE ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN |
Indicator |
Examples/Details |
Assistance Available |
5.1 Stakeholder involvement |
Efforts, such as participation plans or consultations, to actively involve stakeholders in the transportation planning process, including:
- Environmental resource and regulatory agencies
- Regional planning agencies
- Tribal governments
- Interest groups
- The greater community
|
Read about state practices on public involvement in the
State Environmental Streamlining and
Stewardship Practices Database
Learn about Florida's stakeholder involvement in the Defenders of Wildlife's Conservation-Minded Citizen's Guide To
Transportation Planning |
5.2 ‘Hand-off’ planning products using NEPA methods |
Planning processes, including long-range, corridor, and sub-area studies, that feature components that use NEPA principles and methods, including:
- NEPA tiering
- Purpose and need statements
- Scoping and alternatives identification
- Analysis or baselining of environmental conditions or impacts
- Evaluation and/or elimination of alternatives
- Indirect and cumulative impacts assessment
- Preparatory analyses for permitting
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5.3 Comparisons to resource inventories and plans |
Comparisons of transportation plans to natural and cultural resource inventories or plans
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5.4 Use of other environmental factors and analysis tools |
During planning and programming efforts, analysis of interactions between transportation strategies and:
- Land use
- Economic performance
- Natural resources
- Air quality
- Water quality
- Community quality of life
- Travel performance
Planning analysis tools and approaches, such as context-sensitive solutions, scenario planning, and community impact analysis, are all examples of applying these principles here.
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5.5 Consideration of mitigation opportunities |
Exploration of potential mitigation opportunities, including the types of potential mitigation activities and potential areas in which to carry out those activities
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5.6 Design guidance |
Principles, approaches, guidelines, standards, or flexibility to be used in designing transportation facilities, such as context-sensitive design
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Learn about Context Sensitive Solutions |
5.7 Planning decisions carried through in project development |
Decisions and commitments made during the planning and programming process are not revisited during the project development phase; ‘hand-off’ products are used for environmental review and permitting with minimal adjustments.
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For questions or feedback on this subject matter content, please contact Mike Culp or Diane Turchetta. For general questions or web problems, please send feedback to the web administrator.
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