Funding-PILOT TEST
THE ECOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION;
September 27, 2010
Agency
The
National Academies
Description
To
address the challenges of moving people and goods efficiently and safely on the
nation's highways, Congress has created the second Strategic Highway Research
Program (SHRP 2). SHRP 2 is a targeted, short-term research program carried out
through competitively awarded contracts to qualified researchers in the
academic, private, and public sectors. SHRP 2 addresses four strategic focus
areas: the role of human behavior in highway safety (Safety); rapid highway
renewal (Renewal); improved travel time reliability through congestion
reduction (Reliability); and transportation planning that better integrates
community, economic, and environmental considerations into new highway capacity
(Capacity). Under current legislative provisions, SHRP 2 has received
approximately $170 million with total program duration of 7 years, ending in
2013. Additional information about SHRP 2 can be found on the program's Web
site at
www.trb.org/shrp2.
Capacity Focus Area
The
charge from Congress to SHRP 2 Capacity is to develop approaches for
systematically integrating environmental, economic,
and community requirements into the analysis, planning, and design of new
highway capacity. The scope of the SHRP 2 Capacity program extends from the
early stages of the transportation planning process, when many potential
alternatives are being considered, through project development. When decisions
include a major highway component, further development of the highway option is
within the scope of the program. When decisions are made that lead to nonhighway options, further development of the nonhighway component is outside the scope.
Project Background
The
purpose of this project is to test the products of SHRP 2 Projects C01, C06A,
and C06B singly or in combination.
C01: Under this project 23 case studies were conducted of collaborative
practice and a decision guide was developed that represents the key
transportation planning decision points from long-range planning through
corridor planning, environmental review and permitting. A web-based delivery
mechanism was created called Transportation for Communities-Advancing Projects
through Partnerships (TCAPP), found on the web in beta test form at www.transportationforcommunities.com.
Proposers are encouraged to use the case study guidance and collaboration
assistance in the Project C21 pilot tests. See the Decision Guide navigation
tab in TCAPP for a description of the decision points in the decision guide.
C06A: Produced a Framework
for Integrating Conservation and Transportation Planning (the Integration
Framework), the business cases for using it from the perspectives of the
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), state departments of transportation
(DOTs), the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the US Army Corps of
Engineers (USACE), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The focus is
on Clean Water Act Section 404 Permitting and Endangered Species Act Section 7
consultation processes. The framework lays out a process for applying tools
developed in C06B. The business cases are being developed in conjunction with
each agency with their individual missions in mind. The purpose of the business
cases is to demonstrate that ecological approaches to mitigation can result in
faster project delivery and can conserve and restore resources through improved
avoidance, minimization, and mitigation of impacts.
C06B: Areas of focus for
tools developed by C06B, in the context of the step-wise Integration Framework
include:
1) cumulative effects and alternatives analysis
2) strategies for regulatory assurances
3) predictive modeling of at-risk species habitat and integrated mapping of
wetlands
4) ecosystem services crediting
5) interactive database of methods, tools, systems, and case studies that
support the ecological assessment methods
The
final combined product that proposers are asked to test will link tools and
methods developed in this project or available elsewhere to the nine steps in
the Integration Framework, which are:
•
Step 1: Build & Strengthen Collaborative Partnerships and Vision
• Step 2: Integrate Ecosystem Plans
• Step 3: Create Regional Ecosystem Framework
• Step 4: Assess Transportation Effects
• Step 5: Establish & Prioritize Ecological Actions
• Step 6: Develop Crediting Strategy
• Step 7: Develop Agreements
• Step 8: Implement Agreements
• Step 9: Monitoring and Adaptive Management
The
top three recommendations of the C06 projects for implementing an ecological
approach to avoiding, minimizing and mitigating impacts and improving
conservation and restoration of natural resources are:
•Integrate
transportation and land use planning. This has long been the Holy Grail, but there
are clear, feasible steps that can be taken using the Integration Framework
•Identify priority conservation areas. Reaching multi-agency agreement
on priorities at the state or regional level will be a big step toward better
avoidance of impacts on resources that should be conserved or that are
candidates for restoration. An ecological approach constitutes a nexus of watershed
and species preservation.
•Make data available to all decision makers early in the process (for
earlier decision making).
More
information about the C06 projects and the products they are producing can be
found at www.trb.org/shrp2/capacity
Multiple
awards (up to five) will be made for this project, but not necessarily for the
same dollar amount. The nature and extent of the proposed tests and budget will
be taken into consideration. $1,150,000 is allocated to pilot tests and an
additional $100,000 has been reserved by SHRP 2 to provide technical support to
the selected sites.
Projects
C06A and C06B will not end until the spring of 2011 and SHRP 2 research must be
completed by 2012. Therefore, this project will overlap with the completion of
C06A and B to meet the deadline. Proposers will have to write proposals based
on work in progress and descriptions of products that will be available by the
time the pilot tests start in January 2011.
Announcement
Number:
SHRP2_C21
Closing
Date:
Sep 27, 2010 4:30 pm Eastern
Link
to Full Announcement
Contact
Information
Stephen
Andrle,
Chief
Program Officer
Phone:
202-334-2810
Linda
Mason,
communications officer
Phone:
202-334-3241