Research Idea Details

Research Idea Scope

Background

As the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) applies to federal actions in all 50 states, most state DOT’s have partnered with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to develop and implement policies and procedures, including tools and templates, for the implementation of NEPA as it best suits the individual states.
 
Research Objectives/Tasks

The objective of this research is to investigate and analyze ways that the states can more effectively share tools and templates for the implementation of NEPA to more efficiently develop these resources.
 
This proposal has four (4) tasks:
 
Task 1: Inventory which state DOTs have published manuals, guidance, etc.
 
Task 2: Inventory State DOT practices with respect to how manuals, guidance, templates, and/or outlines are maintained (e.g. dynamic web-based, static web-based, paper, etc.),
 
Task 3: Develop and recommend approaches to sharing manuals, templates, etc. in the most efficient way.
 
Task 4: Review and analyze opportunities for state DOTs and FHWA/FTA to reduce the cost of weblink maintenance (e.g. can federal agencies maintain a consistent web address so that weblinks do not need to be continually updated?).