Environmental Site Assessments
Working Cooperatively to Investigate, Assess, and
Screen Property
Environmental site assessments (ESAs) have
become an important component of real estate transactions,
especially for commercial and industrial property. Through
its program of new highway construction and improvements to
existing roadways, the Illinois Department of Transportation
(IDOT) must acquire properties that have the potential for
environmental problems. Sites of interest can include various
natural and man-made hazards that may be present on existing
IDOT right-of-way or on sites proposed for acquisition.
The Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) has developed
and tested for IDOT a site assessment program that provides
information on environmental conditions associated with
highway projects. Site assessments conducted by ISGS for
IDOT are referred to as Preliminary Environmental Site
Assessments (PESAs), as they differ from industry standard
ESAs. IDOT uses the information provided in the PESA reports
to help determine the costs of various design alternatives
(and thereby reduce project costs), to help determine the
needs to ensure worker safety, to better determine
scheduling, and to help prioritize their projects relative
to available funding.
Information source list for preliminary environmental site assessments (PESA)
ESA Education Outreach
View ESA Section outreach slideshow
Environmental Site Assessment Section
Environmental site assessment resources and links
A Directory of Illinois Libraries: Historical Resources for Environmental Site Assessments
(1.0 MB PDF)
Other ISGS PESA projects
Former manufactured gas plant/coal tar site GIS project
Current projects
Highlights archive
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