Training and Workshops
The following training opportunities and resources help transportation and resource agency staff to implement PEL and strengthen links between environmental considerations and planning.
Webinar: Planning and Environmental Linkages for Historic Preservation
Due to overwhelming demand, FHWA will host another webinar on March 12 from 12:00 to 1:30 EST to present results of a recent nationwide study to identify best practices for integrating planning and environmental review for projects affecting historic resources. These best practices include programmatic agreements, historic property databases, statewide management plans for historic bridges, and staff liaison programs with State Historic Preservation Offices.
The webinar is designed for FHWA, State DOTs, and local transportation organization engineering, planning, environmental, and historic preservation staffs; State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices; private sector transportation, environmental, and historic preservation firms; and state and local historic preservation organizations that partner with transportation agencies. Webinar presenters will include the SRI Foundation authors of the “Planning and Environmental Linkages for Historic Preservation” study, and State DOT and local transportation agency staff who created and implemented the highlighted case studies.
Register for the webinar on March 12, 2013.
View webinar presentation materials or a video recording from February 13, 2013.
Webinar: Guidance on Using Corridor and Subarea Planning to Inform NEPA
FHWA's PEL program recently offered a new training webcast to help transportation planning and environmental practitioners better understand how to conduct corridor or subarea planning studies with the goal of using information and decisions to inform the environmental review process. The course provides information on planning and initiating a study, conducting a study, and making a study viable for NEPA.
A recording of the most recent “Guidance on Using Corridor and Subarea Planning to Inform NEPA” webinar is available here.
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PEL 101: The Tools for Adopting and Implementing a PEL Approach
FHWA's PEL program has conducted several sessions of the training webcast titled “PEL 101: The Tools for Adopting and Implementing a PEL Approach.” The purpose of the training is to help transportation professionals and resource agency practitioners to better understand, coordinate, and integrate transportation planning and the environmental review process. The course provides an overview of PEL, how it works and the associated benefits, and information on the tools and methods for implementing the PEL approach.
A recording of the most recent PEL 101 webinar is available here.
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Training Opportunities
CDOT's Online Linking Planning and NEPA Training — The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) offers an online, interactive training entitled "Linking Planning and NEPA". The purpose of this training is to provide CDOT, its regional transportation planning partners, and other states with guidance to integrate useful National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) information into statewide and regional transportation planning processes. In addition to offering basic information on statewide and regional planning and NEPA processes, the training provides an "applied" portion, which takes the participant step by step through the contents of a potential corridor or area plan to illustrate and describe how information typically related to a NEPA process can be effectively incorporated into the planning process. Finally, the course offers case studies of successful examples of Linking Planning and NEPA put into practice in Colorado and other states.
FHWA's GIS for Environmental Streamlining and Stewardship (GIS4EST) Workshop provides an overview of the GIS4EST program, which supports the adoption and development of GIS technologies to promote environmental streamlining and stewardship in transportation decisionmaking. For more information contact Keith Moore at Keith.Moore@dot.gov.
Materials from Past Trainings
Linking Conservation and Transportation Planning Workshops were designed to assist State DOTs, MPOs and State and Federal resource agencies to better coordinate and integrate transportation and conservation planning data and activities. In particular, the workshops emphasized the sharing of information, tools, and methods among transportation and resource agencies to incorporate conservation strategies earlier in the transportation planning process. The workshops demonstrated how the information and tools presented can save money and time by streamlining transportation projects and planning. FHWA hosted seven workshops with State DOTs and MPOs in between 2006 and 2009. These Workshops were replaced with the STARS Workshops in 2010.
The Integrating Transportation Planning and NEPA Decision-Making Webcast provides an overview of how transportation planning and NEPA decision-making can be mutually supportive, and presents case studies demonstrating successful integration. In addition to the presentations, it includes panel response to audience questions submitted during the original webcast. The webcast was first conducted on September 23, 2008 by the Center for Environmental Excellence by AASHTO in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration. The webcast is available to view in streaming video or for download as a PowerPoint presentation.
Additional Training Resources
The FHWA's Transportation Planning Capacity Building program helps decision makers, transportation officials, and staff resolve the increasingly complex issues they face when addressing transportation needs in their communities. The program has collected case studies, primers, and other resources on several important planning topics. The Training and Education page offers a number of related planning courses.
FHWA's Environmental Competency Building program focuses on the current and future multidisciplinary professional development needs of transportation and environmental professionals. The training and tutorials page provides a list of training opportunities currently offered by Federal and state agencies, academic institutions and centers, private firms, and institutions.
The Green Infrastructure approach to conservation provides a way to plan and implementing interconnected green space systems (such as parks, trails, and other green spaces) in conjunction with existing and planned gray infrastructure (such as roads and buildings). The Conservation Fund's Green Infrastructure Course provides participants with a strategic approach for prioritizing conservation opportunities and a planning framework for conservation and development — integrating the green and the grey.
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Training & Workshops