University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Incorporating NEPA into IDOT and MPO Planning Processes

El-Gohary, Nora; Liu, Liang; El-Rayes, Khaled; Lv, Xuan

Content Files
FHWA-ICT-14-013.pdf

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/50113

Description

Title
Incorporating NEPA into IDOT and MPO Planning Processes
Author(s)
  • El-Gohary, Nora
  • Liu, Liang
  • El-Rayes, Khaled
  • Lv, Xuan
Issue Date
2014-07
Keyword(s)
  • NEPA Process
  • IDOT Planning Process
  • MPO Planning Process
  • Process Integration
  • Highway Projects
Date of Ingest
2014-08-18T14:34:02Z
Abstract
This report summarizes the tasks and findings of the ICT Project R27-132 Incorporating National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) into IDOT and Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) planning processes, which is aimed at assisting IDOT in defining guidelines on how to integrate NEPA into the current IDOT and MPO planning processes for large-scale highway projects. The objectives of the project are to (1) provide a comprehensive review of literature of practices integrating NEPA into transportation planning processes in other states; (2) gather feedback from inter- and intra-departmental staff involved in the IDOT planning process, the MPO planning process, and the NEPA process to evaluate the existing practices of integrating NEPA into transportation planning processes for large highway projects; (3) evaluate the impact of these practices on the project development process; (4) identify (based on 1, 2, and 3 above) the key elements/practices that are needed to successfully integrate NEPA into IDOT and MPO planning processes for large-scale highway projects; (5) develop a Guidance Document on how to integrate NEPA into IDOT and MPO planning processes for large-scale highway projects; and provide recommendations on how to evaluate the integrated process. The implementation of this Guidance Document by MPOs would be voluntary. To achieve these objectives, the research team conducted seven main tasks: (1) literature review; (2) collecting project data for analysis as case studies; (3) conducting interviews for evaluating potential integration practices; (4) analyzing the results of the literature review, case studies, and expert interviews; (5) developing the proposed Integrated IDOT-MPO-NEPA Planning Process; (6) conducting interviews for evaluating the proposed integrated process; and (7) developing the Guidance Document.
Publisher
Illinois Center for Transportation/Illinois Department of Transportation
Series/Report Name or Number
  • Illinois Center for Transportation Series No. 14-017
  • Research Report No. FHWA-ICT-14-013
ISSN
0197-9191
Type of Resource
text
Genre of Resource
Technical Report
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/50113
Sponsor(s)/Grant Number(s)
Illinois Department of Transportation, R27-132

Owning Collections

Research and Publications - Illinois Center for Transportation PRIMARY