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.

• Linking Conservation and Transportation Planning Workshops
• Additional Training Opportunities
• Additional Resources

Linking Conservation and Transportation Planning Workshops

The Linking Conservation and Transportation Planning Workshops are 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 emphasize the sharing of information, tools, and methods among transportation and resource agencies to incorporate conservation strategies earlier in the transportation planning process. The workshops demonstrate how the information and tools presented can save money and time by streamlining transportation projects and planning.

FHWA hosted three workshops with State DOTs in 2006, and two with MPOs in 2007-2008. Sample presentations from these workshops and related resources are available on the workshop materials page.

Additional Training Opportunities

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.

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.

Additional 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.

The Environmental Quarterly, October 2006, FHWA. Featuring the Greater Cleveland Decision Support System: A pilot project to integrate watershed planning with transportation planning, and the GIS VISTA tool by NatureServe.

GAO Study: Transportation Planning: State and Metropolitan Planning Agencies Report Using Varied Methods to Consider Ecosystem Conservation or pdf version.

AASHTO report: DOT supported positions and federal and state resource agencies, local governments, and tribes, AASHTO

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