Risk Assessment Survey for Contamination and Appraisal of Land (RASCAL)

It can be a challenge to assess how much something is worth.  This can be especially true for land, where what lies below ground often determines the value and potential use for the property. Learning in a timely manner what lies above and below the surface, and the potential risk to the value of the property before it’s purchased, has been a constant challenge for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT).  In the past, the NHDOT has at times been saddled with the costs of cleaning up contaminated properties that were purchased at full market value.  Both the State Attorney General’s Office and the NHDOT recognized the need to more effectively evaluate both the degree and the extent of contamination in land purchases.

The New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) has implemented a system of integrated handheld computers and web-based data management to support a contaminated property valuation policy for prospective and currently owned properties. NHDOT project development policy requires all properties potentially affected by construction projects and all maintenance facility properties to be screened for hazardous materials (hazmat) issues. It also requires this screening to be performed as early as possible in project planning/design to maximize the time available for assessment of contamination and to allow for the incorporation of this data into purchasing decisions, route selection, construction planning, and health and safety plan preparation.

The technology developed by the Department to implement these policies consists of personal digital assistants (PDAs) running custom site-screening checklist software.   Prior to mobilizing to the field, site screeners download pertinent information to the PDA about the properties to be evaluated from a web-based database. This information is linked with the NHDOT right-of-way database. The secure, web-based solution uses PDA’s to rapidly collect data in the field using drop-down menus, global positioning systems, and digital photos. 

Upon completing the screening, data is uploaded from the PDA to the web database and is managed and analyzed through user-friendly graphic interfaces and reporting functions.

This database can be easily accessed by other State agencies and NHDOT bureaus, including Right-of-Way, Highway Design, Materials & Research and Construction.  Right-of-Way appraisers can use the data for a more accurate property appraisal.  Materials and Research can now determine where to avoid test drilling in unsafe or contaminated locations. 

[back to top]

Innovations in Highway Erosion Control
The NMDOT is in the forefront of experimenting with innovative techniques for slope stabilization and erosion control in the extremely dry climate of New Mexico. The NMDOT Recycling Task Force, formed in 2002, has been actively investigating alternative measures to combat erosion and control sediment run-off from highway construction. The Task Force has partnered with the NM Environment Department, the NM Recycling Coalition (NMRC), local governments across the state, and private compost and mulch manufacturers to develop an effective compost-mulch product for use on NMDOT construction and maintenance projects (view a picture of one of the projects). As a result of these partnerships, in the past 18 months over 40,000 cubic yards of compost-mulch has been placed on highway right-of-way throughout the state. It is proving to be an extremely successful and cost-effective erosion control method for NMDOT. In addition, it is providing economic development opportunities for both local government and small private compost operators. Due to the amount of acreage involved in highway construction and maintenance projects, the NMDOT has the potential to becoming the largest consumer of compost-mulch products in the state.

[back to top]

Oakland, California
The community of Fruitvale in Oakland, California has galvanized and developed a major intermodal transfer station on a former brownfield. More than $5 million in Federal Highway Administration grants were received from the ISTEA and Livable Communities Programs for community planning, a child development facility, the intermodal bus station and a pedestrian plaza, as well as an assortment of contributions from local agencies and the private sector. Operated by the Bay Area Rapid Transit BART), the station has attracted desperately needed commercial activity to the mainly Latino and African-American community, and has provided transport connections to jobs and opportunities in the greater Bay Area.

[back to top]

Lowell, Massachusetts
A Brownfields Showcase Community, completed an extension of the Merrimack Riverwalk with $9.2 million in assistance from the Federal Highway Administration through its Public Lands Highway Program and the Transportation Enhancement Program. The Western Canal Walkway extension provides pedestrian and bicycle access to downtown and the city’s National Heritage Park, serving tourists and the local community without adding congestion to local highways.

[back to top]

EPA List of Success Stories
EPA List of Success Stories

[back to top]

Oregon Bridge Program Emphasizes Recycling
The Oregon Department of Transportation has developed a unique series of initiatives that encourage recycling on all levels of the OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program. Through these initiatives, contractors are reusing and recycling products used for bridge construction and repair. The result of ODOT’s commitment to recycling is savings in cost and time, and the protection of needed resources.  For example,  on a project in Klamath Falls, ODOT is recycling more than 10,000 tons of debris from two bridges slated for replacement. On U.S. 20 between Bend and Ontario, the agency is reusing asphalt to pave bridge approaches. And ODOT has developed an initiative for the use of industrial waste -- which has no intrinsic value whatsoever -- to develop products that strengthen bridges, making them more durable. “We are committed to recycling as much as we can,” said Heather Catron, OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program manager. “By developing a set of guidelines that encourage reuse and recycling, and enforcing those standards through on-site inspections, we are practicing environmental stewardship program-wide.” Get more information on the recycling program. Get information on the Oregon bridge program.

[back to top]

Recycling in California's Highway Agency
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is partnering with other state agencies to minimize materials going into landfills, and the promotion and development of new business opportunities within the State of California to the benefit of all.  Caltrans recycles asphalt and concrete pavement by converting it into base and sub-base under the new road surface – and at the same time the agency is looking for new ways to use recycled materials in road surfaces.  Other Caltrans recycling activities include:

• Employee recycling of office paper waste, diverting over 360 tons per year.
• Use of safety vests that contain poly fiber made from 100 percent recycled plastic soda bottles (over 133,000 two liter bottles).
• Annual use and recycling of 122,000 gallons of re-refined motor lubricants, 14,250 gallons of re-refined anti-freeze, 4,900 remanufactured automotive batteries, and 1,800 remanufactured tires.
• Annual recycling of 5,800 fluorescent lamps, 81 tons of glass, and 69 tons of aluminum cans.
• Use of mulch (green waste) within landscaped areas, also saving water.
• Where feasible, recycling of scrap metal.
• Recycling of state surplus furniture and equipment.

[back to top]

MassHighway's Recycling Program
The Massachusetts state transportation agency, MassHighway, takes recycling seriously and boasts impressive numbers -- including a 76 percent recycling rate in 2000 -- more than double the state’s municipal solid waste recycling rate of approximately 36 percent. Waste materials recycled include antifreeze, construction and demolition debris, street sweepings, and tires.

[back to top]

Pennsylvania DOT's Strategic Recycling Program
PENNDOT’s Strategic Recycling Program is a comprehensive effort to systematically identify, evaluate and implement recycling opportunities throughout the Commonwealth. PENNDOT and the state Department of Environmental Protection are working together to reduce waste materials from transportation operations and to encourage use of recycled materials throughout transportation applications in the state. The objective of the program is to realize economic savings and environmental enhancement to PENNDOT and the entire state through the continued development of pollution prevention, recycling, energy efficiency, and sound environmental management practices. The program provides major benefits to society by reducing the amount of materials going into landfills and developing new business opportunities within the state.

[back to top]

Texas DOT's Road to Recycling Initiative
Since the launch of its recycling program in 1994, Texas DOT (TxDOT) has spent more than $506 million on “green products” and diverted more than 13 million tons of materials from landfills. The agency also has coordinated over $1 million in research to investigate the use of recycled materials in road construction – including glass cullet, scrap tires, fly and bottom ash, crushed porcelain toilets, shredded brush, compost, roofing shingles, plastics, recycled asphalt pavement, crushed concrete, and industrial wastes.  Researchers are finding a variety of uses for these materials, including road signs, roadway safety devices, embankments, asphalt and concrete pavements, soil erosion control, drainage, vertical moisture barriers, and road bases.

[back to top]