Major Investment Studies and Environmental Documentation: Clearing Up the Confusion

1998 ◽  
Vol 1618 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-38
Author(s):  
Donald Emerson ◽  
Greg Benz
Keyword(s):  
Impact Analysis ◽  
High Impact ◽  
Level Of Detail ◽  
National Environmental Policy Act ◽  
Environmental Impact Analysis ◽  
Metropolitan Planning Organizations ◽  
Metropolitan Planning ◽  
Planning Organizations ◽  
National Environmental

Federal planning regulations issued in 1993 require major investment studies (MISs) to help metropolitan planning organizations reach decisions on high-cost, high-impact highway and transit facilities. The regulations offer two options for the development of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents for major investments. In Option 1, draft and final NEPA documents are prepared during the project development/ preliminary engineering phase for any projects that emerge from an MIS and have been incorporated into the region’s long-range plan. In Option 2, a draft NEPA document is prepared as part of the MIS. Although there is general appreciation and understanding of the planning principles underlying the MIS process, the role of environmental impact analysis and documentation has been a source of confusion, misunderstanding, and skepticism. An attempt is made to clear up this confusion by explaining Option 1, Option 2, and the more recently conceived Option 1½ and by presenting situations and circumstances in which each option might be most advantageous. Also presented is the federal “vision” that led to the development of the MIS process, the nature of MIS alternatives is highlighted, suggestions for establishing the appropriate level of detail are offered, and a distinction is made between NEPA principles and documentation requirements.

Administering Public Participation

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Eckerd ◽  
Roy L. Heidelberg
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Impact Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Public Administrators ◽  
National Environmental Policy Act ◽  
Environmental Impact Analysis ◽  
Participation Process ◽  
National Environmental

Participation and administration have long had an uneasy coexistence. On one hand, public participation in decisions that affect citizens is consistent with citizenship and democracy; on the other hand, much of what government does is complex and requires some level of technical understanding to make decisions. In this article, we report on public administrators’ perceptions of public participation and the ways that they understand the participation process. We find that public participation is managed by public administrators; they determine the extent of participation, shape the ways that the participation takes place, and decide whether or not participation is valuable for their work. In some cases, the process is rather democratic, whereas in others, it is not. We find that it is up to administrators to shape the spaces for participation and select the participants in a manner consistent with their understanding of the task to be accomplished. We explore this process in the context of Environmental Impact Analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act.

Integrating Transportation and Environmental Planning: Extending Applicability of Corridor and Subarea Studies and Decisions on Design Concept and Scope

1996 ◽  
Vol 1552 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Douglas S. McLeod
Keyword(s):  
Management System ◽  
Environmental Planning ◽  
Congestion Management ◽  
Design Concept ◽  
National Environmental Policy Act ◽  
Combined Process ◽  
Metropolitan Planning Organizations ◽  
Task Team ◽  
Planning Organizations ◽  
System Task

FHWA and FTA have proposed a combined process for integrating transportation and environmental planning. A major feature of the process is conducting corridor and subarea studies to reach a decision on design concept and scope in planning before a project enters a preliminary engineering phase. These corridor and subarea studies facilitate decisions by metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and refinement of their long-range plans, analyses of alternatives, and analyses of demand reduction and operations required of congestion management systems. As developed to date, the combined process is seen primarily as applying to major investment studies. As part of its congestion management system, Florida (the Department of Transportation, MPOs, and others) addressed corridor and subarea studies, major investment studies, and the proposed combined process. Furthermore, the Florida congestion management system task team found that the combined process may have many beneficial aspects, addressed state and MPO institutional roles in reaching decisions on design concept and scope, and is evaluating the extension of the combined process to arterial investments and interchange justification analyses. By extending the process to these other projects and reaching a decision on design concept and scope in planning, the needs and alternatives analyses required by the National Environmental Policy Act could be obtained earlier, possibly improving and shortening the decision-making process. Overviews of the combined process and Florida actions that may lead to extending the process beyond major investment studies are presented. Florida actions include supporting pilot arterial investment studies to be coordinated by MPOs with funding provided by the state.

Evaluating the Full Costs of Urban Passenger Transportation

1996 ◽  
Vol 1518 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-64
Author(s):  
Jiefeng Qin ◽  
Jose Weissmann ◽  
Mark A. Euritt ◽  
Michael Martello
Keyword(s):  
External Costs ◽  
Public Agencies ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Full Cost ◽  
Metropolitan Planning Organizations ◽  
Passenger Transportation ◽  
Metropolitan Planning ◽  
Transportation Modes ◽  
Planning Organizations ◽  
Corridor Network

Full-cost analyses are being used increasingly within the transportation community to evaluate modal alternatives. Full costs include the costs to users, public agencies, and society (external costs). A working model to estimate the full costs of different transportation modes at the corridor, network, and project levels—one allowing for cross-modal comparisons and easy calibration to local conditions—is presented. The computerized model (MODECOST) is designed to provide assistance to metropolitan planning organizations, transit authorities, and regional and municipal authorities in making cross-modal cost comparisons of transportation alternatives.

Mon/Fayette Route 51 to Pittsburgh Transportation Project: A Success Story in Integrating Congestion Management System Analysis, Major Investment Study, and National Environmental Policy Act Processes

1998 ◽  
Vol 1617 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-138
Author(s):  
Joseph S. Shalkowski
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Management System ◽  
System Analysis ◽  
Transportation Network ◽  
Congestion Management ◽  
National Environmental Policy Act ◽  
Success Story ◽  
Metropolitan Planning ◽  
National Environmental ◽  
National Environmental Policy

The 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act placed new emphasis on transportation planning. In response, FHWA and FTA issued Joint Statewide and Metropolitan Planning Regulations (23 C.F.R §450). These regulations call for two studies, the congestion management system (CMS) analysis and the major investment study (MIS), which must be completed to analyze the best use of the existing transportation network and to determine whether and what transportation investments are needed in a metropolitan area. The intent is to use these studies as input to the metropolitan planning organization’s long-range transportation plan. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Regional Planning Commission (SPRPC) cooperatively developed and implemented an effective approach to navigate the Mon/Fayette Route 51 to Pittsburgh transportation project through a collaborative process integrating the CMS analysis and MIS. This approach also met the requirements of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s (PennDOT’s) Preliminary Alternatives Analysis, one in a series of studies required under PennDOT’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing guidelines. PTC’s goal to advance a preferred major investment alternative into the next phase of project development was accomplished when SPRPC endorsed the integrated CMS analysis/MIS and preliminary alternatives analysis report. Presented is a success story in the effort to integrate the metropolitan planning and NEPA processes at the project programming level. It is hoped that the planning and NEPA principles applied can serve as a model to advance other transportation projects.

Florida Metropolitan Planning Organization Reports on Transit Capacity and Quality of Service: First-Year Evaluation

2003 ◽  
Vol 1841 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria A. Perk ◽  
Chandra Foreman
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Service ◽  
First Year ◽  
Actual Process ◽  
Transit Systems ◽  
Metropolitan Planning Organizations ◽  
Metropolitan Planning ◽  
Florida Department ◽  
Planning Organizations ◽  
Transit Capacity

As an application of the transit quality-of-service framework presented in the first edition of the Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual (TCQSM), the Florida Department of Transportation required all metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) in the state where fixed-route transit service operates to analyze those services on the basis of the six measures identified in the TCQSM: service frequency, hours of service, service coverage, passenger loading, reliability (on-time performance and headway adherence), and transit versus automobile travel time. A first-year evaluation compiles the analyses provided by the participating MPOs and provides an assessment of the aggregate performance of the transit systems. A larger part of the study focused on the examination of the actual process used by the MPOs and transit systems to evaluate their services. Changes recommended to improve and refine the process for future years are presented, based on the first-time experiences of the MPOs. This evaluation serves as a model for other areas in the country interested in applying the customer-oriented assessment of transit based on the TCQSM.

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