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Environmental Concerns with Estimating. TEA/TUG Conference Portland, Maine October 2006 Jack Van Dop Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division Federal Highway Administration. Presentation. Environmental regulations Implementation of transportation projects
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Environmental Concerns with Estimating TEA/TUG Conference Portland, Maine October 2006 Jack Van Dop Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division Federal Highway Administration
Presentation • Environmental regulations • Implementation of transportation projects • Documentation and level of environmental mitigation • Examples of environmental mitigation
Increase in environmental regulations – • Federal • State • Local • Increase in environmental issues regulated • Cultural • Natural • Social
Increase in general public, government agency and interest group involvement in project planning, environmental review, design, construction and maintenance • Increase in enforcement of environmental requirements through fines and criminal penalties • Desire of project’s, agency sponsor to identify and include all possible costs and address reasonable public concerns prior to initiating construction
Cost Estimate • Concept • Generous contingency for environmental costs based on review of available data • Final Cost Estimate • Reduce environmental contingency and include costs for mitigation and regulatory requirements
In addition to the regulatory environmental requirements there is the general public, interest group and non-regulatory federal, state and local government agency involvement and input • Congress routinely legislates requirements that increase cooperation and coordination between those that manage publicly funded projects and those that pay for and live with these projects – SAFETEA - LU
FHWA Vital Few Goals • Safety • Congestion Mitigation • Environmental Stewardship and Streamlining • Utilizing a Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) process for developing and delivering transportation projects is a cornerstone of meeting this FHWA goal
Why could projects subject to the CSS process result in more environmental requirements and different costs than what may have been included in a project developed without a CSS process?
How do you determine what environmental requirements, mitigations and promises were made for a project?
Read and Review the NEPA Document • Look for proximity to: • Water and Wetlands • Historic Properties • Endangered Species • Unique Natural Features • Federal Lands • Etc.
Read and Review • Project Memorandums of Agreement • Project Newsletters and Public Information file • Public, Interest Group and Agency comments on the NEPA Document • Comment responses by the project agency sponsor • Project Permits including mitigation and conditions
Many times the estimator can serve as a “new set of eyes and ears” for a project by asking questions regarding how a particular issue was resolved and the associated cost. • Meet with and discuss the project with the environmental project manager. Many times the design is completed and funding obtained many years after the NEPA document and its commitments are completed – these commitments may have been overlooked in the construction plans.
