SHRP 2 Project Brief: Planning Transportation Projects for Better Environmental Outcomes: A New Institutional Framework and Tools Makes It Easier
|
|
Greetings!
Transportation and natural resources agencies recognize the ecological and economic benefits of integrating landscape-scale environmental considerations into highway planning, but the barriers to achieving the goal are high. Ecosystem-based approaches to highway planning need to be easier and more practical if they are going to be widely implemented. To help these agencies, SHRP 2 has developed a process called the Integrated Ecological Framework. It provides a step-by-step approach for reaching consensus on environmental goals and for identifying and protecting conservation areas, thereby speeding the delivery of transportation projects. This project brief provides an overview of the framework, which can be used during long-range, corridor, and project planning to identify transportation program needs, their potential environmental impacts, and conservation or advanced mitigation opportunities.
|
