November 26, 2014
Innovation Implementation: Implementing Quality Environmental Documentation
Through the Every Day Counts effort to implement quality environmental documentation, highway agencies are streamlining and improving the quality of National Environmental Policy Act documents they develop for transportation construction projects.
So far, 15 states have completed demonstration projects using quality environmental documentation principles and 10 have made it a regular process. Another seven states are demonstrating quality environmental documentation on projects.
- The Colorado Department of Transportation is trying an experimental base document for environmental assessments that cuts the document size by 75 percent. The agency has used it to develop environmental assessments for projects in Pueblo and Summit County.
- The Ohio Department of Transportation is using State Transportation Innovation Council Incentive funds from the Federal Highway Administration to develop guidance on how to improve the quality and streamline the production of two types of environmental documents: feasibility studies and alternative evaluation reports.
- The Virginia Department of Transportation used quality environmental documentation principles in the environmental impact statement for the I-64 Peninsula study. It's a reader-friendly document with high-quality graphics that combines the "affected environment" and "environmental consequences" topics to aid readability and incorporates technical materials by reference.
Intelligent Compaction Wins NOVA Award
Video Tells Skagit River Bridge Story
A new FHWA video tells the story of how the Washington State Department of Transportation and FHWA worked together to restore service after the I-5 Skagit River Bridge was knocked down in 2013. Using the design-build project delivery method and accelerated bridge construction techniques, the Washington State DOT opened the new bridge just 115 days after it collapsed when it was hit by a truck carrying an oversize load. In the video, people involved in the project talk about what made it a success.
Publications Feature EDC Innovations
Every Day Counts innovations are making news. The Safety Edge is featured in an article in California Asphalt, the California Asphalt Pavement Association's magazine. The article provides an in-depth look at how the paving technique is being used across the state to enhance roadway safety. An article in Crain's Detroit Business talks about how the Michigan Department of Transportation saved $1 million and 7.4 million sheets of paper using electronic project documentation management, or e-construction, methods.
