Community Impact Assessment

A Quick Reference for Transportation

Community impact assessment (CIA) is a process to evaluate the effects of a transportation action on a community and its quality of life. The assessment process is an integral part of project planning and development that shapes the outcome of a project. Its information is used continuously to mold the project and provide documentation of the current and anticipated social environment of a geographic area with and without the action. The assessment should include all items of importance to people, such as mobility, safety, employment effects, relocation, isolation, and other community issues.

The Federal Highway Administration has sponsored a Web site on CIA which is administered by the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida. This Web site contains a variety of references and resources related to CIA. The text of Community Impact Assessment: A Quick Reference for Transportation, a key FHWA publication (Publication No. FHWA-PD-96-036) relaying the CIA process, can be found at http://www.ciatrans.net/CIA_Quick_Reference/Purpose.html.

A printed copy of this publication can be obtained while supplies last by contacting U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Office of Planning, HEPP-20, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590, or (202)366-0106.