An Ecological Approach to Integrating Conservation and Highway Planning Volume 2

This report is intended to help transportation and environmental professionals apply ecologicalprinciples early in the planning and programming process of highway capacityimprovements to inform later environmental reviews and permitting. Ecological principlesconsider cumulative landscape, water resources, and habitat impacts of planned infrastructureactions, as well as the localized impacts. The report introduces the Integrated EcologicalFramework (Framework or IEF), a nine-step process for use in early stages of highwayplanning when there are greater opportunities for avoiding or minimizing potential environmentalimpacts and for planning future mitigation strategies. Success requires somelevel of agreement among stakeholders about prioritization of resources for preservation orrestoration. This implies long range environmental planning as a companion to long rangetransportation planning so that there is a basis and methodology for prioritization. Thisreport provides a structured collaborative way to approach these issues. It does not addressenvironmental mitigation and permitting actions required by current law or regulation.The report provides technical background on cumulative effects assessment, ecologicalaccounting strategies, ecosystems services, and partnership strategies, along with a summaryof the available ecological tools that are most applicable to this type of work. The appendicesdocument three pilot projects that tested the approach during the research.The Framework details steps to enhance ecological considerations and efficiency in theearly stages of planning highway capacity projects. Transportation professionals must routinelyinteract with numerous agencies in the course of planning highway expansions. Thesematerials are intended to help each stakeholder better understand the missions and responsibilitiesof the other stakeholders and provide a structured and repeatable framework forinteraction, thus allowing for agreement on ecological priorities. Use of the Framework canstreamline the delivery of highway projects and improve water resources and habitats.The research from SHRP 2’s Capacity Project C06 produced two volumes of reports anda companion guide. Volume 1 (forthcoming) covers institutional issues and provides examplesof techniques such as banking and programmatic agreements that can be used in thehighway planning process. The guide (forthcoming) provides step-by-step information tohelp practitioners use the Framework. Essential content from the C06 project is availableon the Transportation for Communities: Advancing Projects through Partnerships website(www.transportationforcommunities.com).