Here is a set of tools designed to help agencies identify areas where they can strengthen planning and environment linkages (PEL). These tools are also intended to help agencies identify available assistance and potential FHWA activities that could be undertaken to provide that assistance.

Agencies can use various approaches to integrate planning and environmental processes, as illustrated in the overlapping of the two spheres.

Tools are grouped into four categories:

Institutional Changes
Planning and Environmental Processes
Data and Analysis Tools
Coordination and Communication

1. INSTITUTIONAL CHANGES

Tool

Sample Actions

Practical Applications and Resources

1.1

Champions and working groups

Internal leadership workshops
Inter-agency leadership workshops
Specific staffers or champions designated in key agency offices to oversee implementation of linkage activities
Internal or inter-agency working groups convened

Arizona Wildlife Linkages — case study

Integrated Planning Work Group

1.2

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

Linking Conservation and Transportation Planning Workshop and other training opportunities

CDOT's Online Linking Planning and NEPA Training

USFWS Training — Integrating NEPA into FWS Activities

1.3

Document new procedural or analysis guidance

Develop 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

Idaho Corridor Planning/NEPA Integration Guide — case study

Planning and Environment Linkages Implementation Resource Guide

1.4

Organizational structuring

Staff allocations to support linkages
Interdisciplinary teams
Crossover positions between one or more disciplines within the agency

Indiana's Streamlined EIS Procedures — case study

Maine's Integrated Transportation Decision-Making (ITD) Process — case study

1.5

Executive-level commitment

Communication from executive management to staff level regarding agency's commitment to strengthening planning and environment linkages which might include:

Internal memoranda
Management directives
Policy statements
Dedicated resources for integration (staff, funding, time, etc.)

Eco-Logical: An Ecosystem Approach to Developing Infrastructure Projects — interagency guidebook and grant program

Integrated Planning Work Group

1.6

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)

Oregon's Collaborative Environmental and Transportation Agreement on Streamlining (CETAS) — case study

Florida Environmental Performance Management — State Practices Database

2. PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROCESSES

Tool

Sample Actions

Practical Applications and Resources

2.1

Develop long-range transportation plans in consultation with resource and regulatory agencies

Compare transportation plans to natural and cultural resource inventories, maps or plans. Consult with Federal, State, Tribal and local agencies as appropriate. (23 CFR 450)

SEMCOG Integrates Environmental Issues in the Transportation Planning Process — case study

Eco-Logical: An Ecosystem Approach to Developing Infrastructure Projects — interagency guidebook and grant program.

2.2

Consider mitigation opportunities

Explore potential environmental mitigation opportunities and potential areas to carry out those activities in consultation with Federal, State, and Tribal land management, wildlife, and regulatory agencies. (23 CFR 450)

North Carolina's Process Improvement Initiatives — case study

Exemplary Ecosystem Initiatives

Green Infrastructure project profiles

2.3

Corridor planning, sub area planning, and tiering

Conduct a multimodal, systems-level corridor or subarea planning study as part of the statewide transportation planning process, which may result in development of a proposed project purpose and need, preliminary screening of alternatives, and preliminary identification of environmental impacts and mitigation opportunities (23 CFR 450)
Integration may be accomplished through tiering (as described in 40 CFR 1502.20), incorporating the subarea or corridor planning study into the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) or Environmental Assessment, or other means that the NEPA lead agencies deem appropriate. (23 CFR 450)

Idaho Corridor Planning/NEPA Integration Guide — case study

Maine Gateway 1 Strategic Plan — case study

Illinois Tomorrow Corridor Planning Grants — case study

State Wildlife Action Plans

2.4

Carry planning decisions through in project development (linking planning and NEPA)

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

Greensboro, North Carolina Urban Area MPO 2030 Long Range Transportation Plan — case study

Mid-Atlantic Transportation and Environment (MATE) Task Force — case study

2.5

Develop design guidance

Establish principles, approaches, guidelines, standards, or flexibility to be used in designing transportation facilities, such as context-sensitive design

Integrating Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation Planning — guidelines

CSS in Planning Q&A

Context Sensitive Solutions in the State Environmental Streamlining and Stewardship Practices Database

3. DATA AND ANALYSIS TOOLS

Tool

Sample Actions

Practical Applications and Resources

3.1

Document existing geographic data

Example categories of data:

Ecological resources
Cultural assets
Land use and development
Demographics
Transportation

SEMCOG Integrates Environmental Issues in the Transportation Planning Process — case study

Geospatial Environmental and Community Analysis in Pueblo and El Paso Counties — case study

3.2

Develop protocols and tools for sharing data and analysis among and within agencies

Develop information systems that support access by multiple agencies and departments within agencies, including updating of data
Establish inter-agency data sharing agreements
Develop a 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

Florida DOT Efficient Transportation Decision-Making Process (ETDM) — case study

PEL Data and Analysis Tools publications

Missouri Resource Assessment Partnership (MoRAP)

3.3

Improve access to and use of geographic resource data by transportation staff

Provide planning and environmental staff with access to data for use in planning and project development functions, and employ the data to conduct analysis and inform decision-making
Develop training on using and analyzing data in transportation planning and project development.

Key Practices for Implementing Geospatial Technologies for a Planning and Environment Linkages (PEL) Approach — case studies

FHWA's GIS in Transportation website

GIS and Spatial Data in the State Environmental Streamlining and Stewardship Practices Database

3.4

Collect and maintain data regularly

Establish a regular schedule and maintenance program for various geographic and other important data used in transportation planning and project development.

Texas Ecological Assessment Protocol — case study

4. COORDINATION AND COMMUNICATION

Tool

Sample Actions

Practical Applications and Resources

4.1

Communicate with stakeholders

Develop contact and relationships with:

Environmental resource and regulatory agencies
Regional planning agencies
Tribal governments
Interest groups
The greater community

Collaborative Problem Solving in the State Environmental Streamlining and Stewardship Practices Database

Public Involvement in the State Environmental Streamlining and Stewardship Practices Database

Maine's Gateway 1 Strategic Plan — case study

Community Impact Assessment website

Conflict Resolution Tools

4.2

Establish standing inter- and intra-agency coordination groups

Develop contact and relationships with: 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

Integrated Planning Work Group

4.3

Develop Memoranda of Understanding/Agreement

MOAs/MOUs may stipulate arrangements regarding:

Operating procedures
Funding
Programmatic approaches
Dispute resolution procedures
Other aspects of planning, project development, and reviews

AASHTO Programmatic Agreement Toolkit

Interagency Agreements (MOAs, MOUs, and Programmatic Agreements) in the State Environmental Streamlining and Stewardship Practices Database

4.4

Fund staff positions at partner agencies

Provide inter-agency funding for transportation positions in resource and regulatory agencies. The positions can address environmental considerations in planning as well as environmental review, consultation, and permitting activities.

DOT-Funded Positions and Other Support to Resource and Regulatory Agencies, Tribes, and Non-Governmental Organizations AASHTO Center for Environmental Excellence, May 2005

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