Human and Natural Environment

Strategic Outcomes

• Improve the sustainability and livability of communities.
• Reduce the adverse affects of transportation on ecosystems and the natural environment.
• Improve the viability of ecosystems.
• Reduce the adverse effects of transportation facilities on the natural environment.
• Improve equity for low income and minority communities concerning the benefits and burdens of transportation facilities and services.
• Reduce the amount of pollution from transportation sources.

Departmental Performance Goals

1. Reduce adverse effects on ecosystems and improve ecosystem viability.
2. Reduce transportation pollution.

D

Transportation makes our communities more livable, enhancing the quality of our lives and our society. However, transportation generates undesired consequences too, such as pollution, noise, and the use of valuable land and degradation of fishery habitat. No matter how much is done to improve the capacity and efficiency of the system, we cannot consider our programs to be successful unless we also manage the effects on our environment, and ultimately our quality of life.

The Department's objective is to advance the benefits of transportation while minimizing its negative environmental impacts. In 2004, the Department's environmental programs prevented as much harm as possible from being done to the environment by transportation projects and operations.

Wetlands Protection and Recovery

Wetlands are an important natural resource. They provide natural filtration of pollutants, and they store and slow down the release of floodwaters, thereby reducing damage to downstream farms and communities. Wetlands also provide an essential habitat for biodiversity. But many of the nation's wetlands have been lost to development over the years, before their value was fully recognized. Highways and transportation facilities (location, construction, and operation) can be a significant factor affecting these ecosystems.

The following table depicts the performance measures and goals related to Wetlands Protection and Recovery.

FY 2004 Results: The Department met the performance target.

In FY 2004, federal aid projects nationwide impacted 847 acres of wetlands, and provided 1,761 acres of compensatory mitigation.

FHWA

The Exemplary Ecosystem Initiatives are FHWA's hallmark demonstration of the Agency's commitment to environmental stewardship and ecosystem conservation. An exemplary ecosystem initiative is a cutting-edge action or measure that will help sustain or restore natural systems and their functions and values using an ecosystem or landscape context. FHWA exceeded its target of designating two additional initiatives for FY 2004 by recognizing seven new exemplary efforts, bringing the total the Agency designated thus far to 15.

Context sensitive solutions (CSS), also known as context sensitive design (CSD) and Thinking Beyond the Pavement (TBTP), is a new approach to transportation planning that recognizes that transportation has wide societal impacts and is not merely the practice of engineering. In FY 2004, FHWA endorsed CSS, which is being pioneered by a number of state DOTs. The qualities of a project produced by CSS and the characteristics of the process that yields such projects have also been identified and are generally accepted by state DOTs. This new approach recognizes that transportation planners, community builders, and the public have an important role to play. By the end of FY 2004, 18 states are projected to adopt and use the context sensitive solutions/design approach in developing and delivering federal aid projects.

Finally, FHWA delivered a series of “Linking Planning and National Environmental Policy Act: Towards Streamlined Decision-making” workshops to FHWA division offices, FTA regional offices, state DOTs, metropolitan planning organizations, transit agencies, state/county/local planning agencies, and stakeholders.