Research Idea Details

Research Idea Scope

TERI Database Administrator Notes: Funded as NCHRP Project 25-25 (46) “Compendium of Best Practices for Environmental Compliance and Stewardship at Transportation Maintenance Facilities”

Background:

All transportation agencies are involved with the construction, maintenance, and operation of a wide range of facilities associated with the maintenance of their transportation systems. Facilities for equipment maintenance and storage, maintenance materials storage, emergency and incident management, sign manufacturing, and worker housing are common examples.

As the construction, maintenance, and operation of these facilities has the potential to impact the natural and human environs around them, transportation agencies must comply with a complex set of federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations. Transportation agencies routinely comply with rules protecting worker health and safety, air quality, surface and ground water quality, fish and wildlife habitat, and neighboring communities. Also, recent national emphasis on recycling, energy conservation, alternative fuels, and climate change are likely to affect transportation maintenance facilities.

In their efforts to comply with environmental rules and strive for environmental stewardship, transportation maintenance managers are finding it increasingly challenging to identify practical, economical, and environmentally sound practices for constructing, maintaining, and operating their facilities. A great deal of emphasis since the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act has been on practices for improving the environmental compliance of planning, design, and construction of airports, ports, rail roads, transit facilities, and highways. Much less emphasis has been placed on improving environmental compliance at their maintenance support facilities.

The National Cooperative Highway Research Project NCHRP 25-25(04) Compendium of Environmental Stewardship Practices, Procedures, and Policies for Highway Construction and Maintenance does include practices for maintenance facilities management in Chapter 6-Maintenance Facilities Management. However, these practices have not undergone a comprehensive evaluation of their practicality, environmental performance and cost-effectiveness.

Research to synthesize a compendium of practical, economical, and environmentally sound environmental practices for transportation maintenance facility construction, maintenance, and operations is urgently needed.

Research Objective:

Develop a compendium of effective, practical, and economical practices for environmental compliance and stewardship in transportation maintenance facility construction, maintenance, and operations.

Specific Tasks:

Task 1: Develop criteria for evaluating the environmental performance, practicality, and cost-effectiveness of transportation agency practices for environmental compliance and stewardship in transportation maintenance facility construction, maintenance, and operations.

Task 2: Conduct a review of transportation agency practices for environmental compliance and stewardship in transportation maintenance facility construction, maintenance, and operations.

The task may include but is not limited to: website reviews; policy and procedure reviews; telephone interviews; questionnaire surveys; and review of the NCHRP 25-25(04) Compendium of Environmental Stewardship Practices, Procedures, and Policies for Highway Construction and Maintenance.

Task 3: Evaluate the environmental performance, practicality, and cost-effectiveness of transportation agency practices for environmental compliance and stewardship in transportation maintenance facility construction, maintenance, and operations.

Task 4: Prepare a draft compendium of best transportation agency practices for environmental compliance and stewardship in transportation maintenance facility construction, maintenance, and operations.

Task 5: Coordinate a review of the draft compendium with a work group of representatives from the AASHTO Standing Committees on Environment, and Subcommittee on Maintenance.

Task 6: Prepare a final compendium of best transportation agency practices for environmental compliance and stewardship in transportation maintenance facility construction, maintenance, and operations.

Task 7: Prepare a power point presentation highlighting the contents of the compendium for presentation at the Transportation Research Board, AASHTO Standing Committee on Environment, Subcommittee on Design, Subcommittee on Maintenance, and Federal Highway Administration Environmental Specialists annual meetings. Make a presentation at these meetings using the power point presentation.