Transportation

Track Chair: Kristen Maines, Infrastructure Consulting & Engineering

2016 was a strong year for federal transportation funding under President Obama. However, states still face a shortfall between existing transportation revenues and projected needs. Funding and finance options for transportation projects include traditional revenues such as gas taxes and other taxes on motor fuels, motor vehicle fees and tolls, and less traditional approaches like per-mile charges and taxes on alternative fuels. States also are considering finance solutions that borrow against or otherwise leverage revenues, such as bonds, federal credit assistance, state infrastructure banks and public-private partnerships (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2017).

This year, we have four unique sessions in the Transportation Track covering a variety of transportation-related topics. Roadway Projects and NEPA: Navigating the Process will present case studies of three roadway projects—each dealing with issues and challenges that many planners face. Emerging Issues in Transportation Projects will focus on trends in transportation planning including alternatives to Level of Service as the primary metric for assessing transportation facilities, and the findings of a recent survey of 46 committees of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies regarding environmental “performance”. The third session, Case Studies in Transportation Projects will have two presentations dealing with historic bridges. We will hear an evaluation of states’ approaches to navigating historic bridge projects with some guidance for professionals to improve project outcomes; and a discussion of the challenges of replacing a historic bridge in an environmentally-sensitive and dynamic coastal environment. The track will wrap up with Evaluating Impacts of Transportation Projects which will explore issues in the world of air transportation and differences between handling transportation projects under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and NEPA.

Session 3: Roadway Projects and NEPA: Navigating the Process (Tuesday, March 28, 10:00-11:30)

This session will present three roadway projects each presenting their own issues and challenges navigating the often complicated and always interesting environmental process. Topics will include a coastal roadway project in Georgia and how the project team’s challenge was to balance resiliency, regulations, and resources; a stalled NEPA process in Iowa and how the project team was able to reinvigorate and complete the NEPA process; and negotiating with a private developer on a much-needed roadway project in a growing area of South Carolina.

Kristen Maines, Infrastructure Consulting & Engineering, Moderator

• Crystal Fox, Infrastructure Consulting & Engineering
• Todd Barker, Adrian Collaborative
• Brian Goss, HDR, Inc.

Session 7: Emerging Issues in Transportation Projects (Tuesday, March 28, 1:15-2:45)

This session will address emerging issues in transportation projects including presenting findings from a recent survey of 46 committees of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, each with different relationship to environmental performance in the planning, design, delivery and operation of transportation facilities; and evaluating the effectiveness of using Level of Service as the primary metric for assessing the adequacy of transportation facilities and other emerging more holistic measures.

Kristen Maines, Infrastructure Consulting & Engineering, Moderator

• Richard Record, RL Record Consultants
• Matthew Ridgway, Fehr & Peers DC

Session 19: Case Studies in Transportation Projects (Wednesday, March 29, 10:00-11:30)

This session will focus on transportation projects dealing with historic bridges. Speakers will evaluate states’ approaches to navigating historic bridge projects/programs in Indiana, Louisiana, and Minnesota providing guidance for transportation and cultural resource professionals to improve outcomes in their own locales; and help attendees recognize the challenges of replacing a historic bridge in an environmentally-sensitive and dynamic coastal environment.

Kristen Maines, Infrastructure Consulting & Engineering, Moderator

• Amy Squitieri, Mead & Hunt, Inc.
• Blair Wade, HDR, Inc.

Session 23: Evaluating Impacts of Transportation Projects (Wednesday, March 29, 1:15-2:45)

This session will explore how airports are unique transportation facilities that have unique needs. Discussions include the effect of incompatible land use on airport safety and operations and what benefits can be achieved when there is effective land use planning around airports; and the unique impacts associated with airport projects at North Carolina’s publicly owned airports, with a focus on environmental impact analysis associated with NEPA documentation. This session also includes a presentation on the substantial overlap and important differences in the recommended approaches to evaluating impacts under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and NEPA.

Kristen Maines, Infrastructure Consulting & Engineering, Moderator

• Jennifer Fuller, NCDOT Division of Aviation
• Jacqueline Sweatt, FAA
• James Maughan, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center