An Ecological Approach to Integrating Conservation and Highway Planning (SHRP 2 Report S2-C06-RW-2)
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Greetings!
The tight budgets faced by government at all levels make it vital that every dollar spent on environmental mitigation and restoration in transportation project development is well spent. An Ecological Approach to Integrating Conservation and Highway Planning (SHRP 2 Report S2-C06-RW-2) is intended to help transportation and environmental professionals apply ecological principles early in the planning and programming process of highway capacity improvements to inform later environmental reviews and permitting. Ecological principles consider cumulative landscape, water resources, and habitat impacts of planned infrastructure actions, as well as the localized impacts. The report introduces the Integrated Ecological Framework (Framework or IEF), a nine-step process for use in early stages of highway planning when there are greater opportunities for avoiding or minimizing potential environmental impacts and for planning future mitigation strategies. This report provides a structured collaborative way to approach these issues; it does not address environmental mitigation and permitting actions required by current law or regulation. Essential content from the C06 project is available on the Transportation for Communities: Advancing Projects through Partnerships website (www.transportationforcommunities.com).
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