Sustainability and transportation
Sustainability means accommodating the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. As applied to the transportation sector, planning for sustainability can incorporate a variety of strategies to conserve natural resources, encourage modes other than single-occupant vehicles, and promote travel reduction strategies.
Past trends in transportation have contributed to unsustainable conditions, including greenhouse gas emissions, energy insecurity, congestion, and ecological impacts, and development patterns that public services and infrastructure cannot effectively support. Transportation officials and stakeholders are now recognizing that their decisions have long-term implications and impacts, and are working on how to prepare metropolitan and Statewide transportation plans and programs accordingly. Attaining a sustainable transportation system requires ongoing attention and action by the public sector, private companies, and individual citizens.
Why link transportation planning to environmental processes?
There are significant public benefits when State and local agencies incorporate environmental and community values into transportation decisions early in the planning process, and carry those considerations through to project
development and delivery. Benefits to the riding public include the following:
• Relationship building
Transportation planning agencies can establish positive working relationships
toward reaching local consensus on decisions. To foster relationship building, State DOTs and MPOs consult with State and local agencies responsible for land use management, natural resources, environmental protection,
conservation, and historic preservation. State DOTs must also consult with tribal agencies.
• Identifying areas with environmental issues
Decisionmakers can fully evaluate costs and impacts by considering environmental issues early in the planning process. By identifying
environmental concerns early, agencies can save time and costs associated with having to avoid, minimize, or mitigate the effects of a project. Federal law mandates that long-range transportation plans include a discussion of types of potential environmental mitigation activities and potential areas to carry out these activities, including activities that may have the greatest potential to restore and maintain the environmental functions affected by the plan. The resulting discussions are developed in consultation with Federal, State, and tribal wildlife, land management, and regulatory agencies
• Process efficiencies
Good inter-agency relationships may help resolve differences on key issues as transportation programs and projects advance from planning to design and implementation. Conducting some analysis at the planning stage can help agencies avoid duplicate work, reduce cost and time requirements, and move projects through the project development process with fewer issues.
• On-the-ground outcomes
Agencies can better conceive transportation programs and projects that effectively serve their community’s needs when they begin planning equipped with information about resource considerations and when they coordinate with resource agencies and the public. Achieving on-the-ground outcomes that fit community needs can reduce negative impacts and lead to more effective environmental stewardship.
Figure 8. The relationship between transportation planning and environmental planning, and between systems planning and project-level
How is the National Environmental Policy Act related to the transportation planning process?
NEPA established a national policy to promote the environmental protection in the actions and programs of Federal agencies. FHWA and FTA act as lead Federal agencies and are responsible for implementing the NEPA process and working with State and local project sponsors during transportation project development.
FHWA and FTA apply the NEPA process to transportation decisionmaking by assisting transportation officials in making project decisions that balance engineering and transportation needs with social, economic, and
environmental factors. This process relies heavily on input from the public, interest groups, resource agencies and local governments. FHWA and FTA apply the NEPA process as an umbrella for compliance, with more than 40 environmental laws, regulations, and executive orders that provide an integrated approach to addressing impacts that transportation projects produce on the human and natural environment.
A coordinated approach between planning and project development can lead to transportation investments that reflect community needs, were developed from an active public involvement process, and are sensitive to the environment. The first stages of the NEPA process—development of project purpose and need—should build upon the transportation needs identified during planning. These needs will inform the final selection of an alternative for design and construction.
Another direct link between NEPA and transportation planning is the requirement that a project must be included in a conforming plan and TIP before it can advance, because major changes late in the planning process can trigger conformity and other planning reassessments that can lead to delays. Data collection related to environmental features, analyses of projected transportation system usage, and attendant impacts on environmental quality can provide important information as agencies commence the NEPA process.
How are transportation planning studies integrated into NEPA analyses?
Federal law and supporting guidance describe approaches for integrating transportation planning and NEPA
processes. FHWA and FTA must be able to stand behind the overall soundness and credibility of analyses, outreach, consultations, and the decisions made during the transportation planning process, if those decisions are incorporated into a NEPA document either directly or by reference. Transportation planning processes and their products are greatly improved when implemented through a comprehensive, cooperative, and continuous approach—the 3-C planning principles. Transportation study results should be:
• Based on transportation planning factors established by Federal law.
• Reflective of a credible and clearly articulated planning rationale.
• Founded in reliable data.
• Reflective of dialogue and consultation with the public, stakeholders, and Federal and State environmental resource agencies.
• Developed through planning processes that meet Federal requirements.
A robust scoping and early coordination process is critical to FHWA and FTA reaching informed transportation decisions on the suitability of transportation planning information, analyses, documents, and decisions for use in the NEPA process. Early coordination provides Federal and State environmental, regulatory, and resource agencies, and the public, with information that explains the analyses used to develop the planning products. Planning analyses need to be current and should adequately support improvements in Statewide and metropolitan long-range plans.
Results from planning processes must be documented in a form that can be appended to the NEPA document or incorporated by reference to materials that are readily available. This same rationale should provide a clear connection between the decisions made in planning and project development, since those decisions must be
multidisciplinary consideration of systems-level or corridor-wide transportation needs and potential effects, including effects on the human and natural environment.
The Federal lead agency can determine the appropriate geographic scale for effectively addressing potential effects of a transportation improvement. Programmatic mitigation plans address potential impacts of projects at a larger geographic scale than the project study area.
What NEPA documentation is required?
NEPA documentation discloses benefits and impacts of transportation projects on the human and natural
environments, gathers input from the public and other stakeholders, and provides information for decisionmakers.
Transportation projects have different degrees of complexity and effects on the environment. Under NEPA, the environmental document that is required depends on the degree of impact of a project. FHWA and FTA, in coordination with project sponsors, prepare one or more of the following documents for a proposed project:
• Categorical Exclusion documents apply to projects that do not have a significant impact on the human and natural environment.
• An Environmental Assessment (EA) is prepared for projects where it is unclear whether there will be significant environmental impacts. If the analysis in the EA indicates the proposed project will have significant environmental impacts, then an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is prepared.
• A Finding of No Significant Impact is a separate decision document prepared when there are no significant impacts.
• A Notice of Intent is a notice that an Environmental Impact Statement will be prepared and considered.
• Environmental Impact Statement documents are prepared for projects that have a significant impact on the human and natural environment. Draft EIS and Final EIS documents include a description of the proposed project, the existing environment, and analysis of the beneficial and adverse impacts of all
reasonable alternatives.
• A Record of Decision presents the selected transportation decision analyzed in an EIS, the basis for that decision, and the environmental commitments, if any, to mitigate for project impacts on the human and natural environment.
Regardless of the type of NEPA document prepared, final selection or approval of a proposed project alternative by FHWA and FTA makes the project eligible for Federal funding of project activities, such as final design, right-of-way acquisition, and construction.
Additional information
For more information on linking planning and environmental concerns, see www.environment.fhwa.dot.gov/integ/index.asp.
For links to laws, regulations, and guidance that affect environmental analysis and the public transportation review process, see www.fta.dot.gov/about_FTA_5222.html.
For information onpi shortening project delivery related to NEPA requirements, see Guidance on Using Corridor and Subarea Planning to Inform NEPA: environment.fhwa.dot.gov/integ/corridor_nepa_guidance.asp.
To contribute thoughts and ideas in an open forum on NEPA and related topics, see collaboration.fhwa.dot.gov/dot/fhwa/ReNepa/default.aspx.