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Planning & Environment Linkages

Recent Developments

Listed below are recent developments pertinent to environmental considerations in planning from the past six months.  If you would like to suggest a recent development on this topic, please submit a short description to AASHTO (including any pertinent links) on the Share Info with AASHTO form.

• FHWA Clarifies Eligibility for Use of Planning Funds

  The Federal Highway Administration has issued a memo reminding its division offices about eligibility requirements for use of metropolitan planning funding. In particular, the memo addresses eligibility for management systems and performance planning, bicycle-pedestrian counting equipment, and Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) versus National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The memo includes examples of recent eligibility issues and whether activities are eligible as direct or indirect costs, or not eligible. For more information, link to the memo.

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• Fiscal Constraint Flexibilities Clarified by FHWA

  Clarifications regarding flexibility of fiscal constraint requirements in statewide transportation improvement programs (STIPs) and transportation improvement programs (TIPs) are discussed in a memo issued by the Federal Highway Administration. The memo addresses how to include advanced construction in the STIP/TIP and provides advice on determining whether a future funding source is "reasonable." For more information, link to the memo. (9-23-19)

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• FHWA Issues Planning, Environment Linkages Peer Exchange Reports

  The Federal Highway Administration has issued summary reports for three peer exchanges held in various locations regarding Planning and Environment Linkages (PEL). Peer exchanges in Maryland, Illinois, and Colorado were held in December 2017, December 2018, and April 2019, respectively. The purpose of the events was to discuss approaches and effective practices for state transportation departments regarding PEL. PEL uses transportation planning to inform the environmental review process required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The reports include discussion of PEL approaches and PEL products, PEL’s relationship to NEPA process, regulatory requirements for taking advantage of PEL approaches, and PEL approaches in peer states. For more information link to the reports for Colorado, Illinois, and Maryland. (9-16-19)

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• FHWA Issues Report on Freight and Land Use Travel Demand

  The Federal Highway Administration has issued a report that identifies best practices and tools for better understanding how land use, local economic development, and demographic factors drive freight movement, trip generation, and freight demand analysis. The report looks at the changing definition of what constitutes freight, a broader audience for freight decision making, and some of the emerging topics in freight. Some of the recommendations from the project will be incorporated into an update to the Quick Response Freight Manual (QRFM). For more information, link to the report. (July 2019)

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• New Performance-Based Planning Case Studies Issued by FHWA

  The Federal Highway Administration has issued four new case studies that provide lessons learned with regard to performance-based planning and programming, a strategic approach to planning in which data supports decisions that ultimately help to achieve performance goals. The new case studies discuss the data collection strategies, the selection of performance measures, and interagency collaboration practices from the Maricopa Association of Governments, San Diego Association of Governments, Lewis Clark Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization, and Rockingham Metropolitan Planning Organization, in Arizona, California, Idaho, and New Hampshire, respectively. For more information, link to the case studies. (6-17-19)

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• Researchers Develop Tool to Measure Effectiveness of Public Involvement

  A toolkit to measure the effectiveness of public involvement in transportation have been developed under the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP Research Report 905, Project 08-105). The toolkit, which includes survey instruments, a scoring tool, and guidelines for use, is designed to collect feedback from the public on several indicators of effectiveness and compare that feedback with the transportation agency’s perceptions. The combined responses then can be used to compare the effectiveness of different public involvement strategies over time. For more information, link to the report. (5-6-19)

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• Newsletter Highlights Use of Eco-Logical for Project Delivery

  The state of the practice in use of the Eco-Logical landscape approach to infrastructure planning is outlined in the Jan. 2019 issue of Federal Highway Administration’s Successes in Stewardship newsletter. The issue provides examples of the Eco-Logical approach and its benefits, agencies that are using the approach, and ways it can be used to accelerate project delivery. For more information, link to the newsletter. (1-8-19)

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