The case studies listed in this section are organized according to the principal environmental issue addressed by the GIS application.  Most of them have been drawn from the following two compendia of state and local practices maintained by FHWA, or from papers presented at AASHTO’s GIS for Transportation Symposium.  Links are provided back to these websites, where applicable, for more information about the specific case study, and for additional examples of GIS applications in transportation planning.

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FHWA

• GIS in Transportation – This website is maintained by FHWA’s Office of Planning, Environment and Realty to highlight noteworthy practices and innovative uses of GIS applications in transportation planning by state and local transportation agencies.  This site includes examples of GIS applications listed by State.
• State Environmental Streamlining and Stewardship Practices Database – This website, also maintained by FHWA’s Office of Planning, Environment and Realty, contains examples of streamlining and stewardship practices used by states to efficiently and effectively fulfill their NEPA obligations.

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AASHTO

• GIS for Transportation Symposium – This website includes proceedings for AASHTO’s GIS-T Symposium from 2003 to 2009.  Copies of the actual presentations made at each topic session are available on-line.

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North Carolina Air Quality Roundtable

• The North Carolina Air Quality Roundtable is a workshop series that brings together stakeholders from thirty different groups to cooperatively work to improve North Carolina's response to air quality related to transportation sources.  Participating agencies include the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the Center for Transportation and the Environment of North Carolina State University, FHWA, EPA, the North Carolina Department of Commerce, the Office of the Governor and several local Metropolitan Planning Organizations.  The group is using GIS to develop effective ways to educate decision-makers, the media, and the general public with accurate, location-specific information about the decision-making process for transportation related air quality issues. For more information link to North Carolina: Air Quality Roundtable on FHWA’s State Environmental Streamlining and Stewardship Practices Database.

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South Carolina: Corridor Analysis Tool (CAT)
South Carolina DOT’s CAT tool is a GIS-based planning tool that selects potential alignments for new highways by avoiding environmentally sensitive areas.  Each environmental feature (e.g., wetlands, endangered species, historic sites) is entered as a separate layer in the GIS for the study corridor, and alignments are selected that minimize overlap with the environmental features. For more information link to South Carolina: Corridor Analysis Tool (CAT) on FHWA’s State Environmental Streamlining and Stewardship Practices Database.

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New Jersey: Job Access and Reverse Commute Planning
The New Jersey Department of Human Services and the Northern Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) each conducted studies to examine the potential ability of the state's bus transportation network to serve WorkFirst participants (welfare clients) reentering the workforce. The studies used GIS in conjunction with updated information on residential locations of welfare recipients, potential work sites, and key facilities (such as daycare and job training) essential to encouraging workforce participation.  Findings indicated that existing public transportation could meet the basic needs of a large portion of the region’s welfare recipients who were reentering the workforce.  The studies are documented in Regional Job Access and Reverse Commute Planning on FHWA’s Environmental Justice website.

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Columbus, Ohio: MPO Environmental Justice Analysis
The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC), the MPO for the greater Columbus, Ohio region, has developed a process to assess and ensure compliance of the agency’s transportation planning decisions with the environmental justice requirements of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.  MORPC used GIS to identify the locations of low-income and minority populations living within the Columbus metropolitan area, and incorporated this information into a travel demand forecasting model to assess the benefits and burdens of existing and planned transportation system investments on target populations. The analysis is described in MPO Environmental Justice Report: Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission on FHWA’s Environmental Justice website.

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Georgia: Natural, Archeological and Historic Resources GIS (NAHRGIS)
The Natural, Archaeological and Historic Resources Geographic Information System (NAHRGIS) is an interactive web-based registry and GIS designed to catalog information about the natural, archaeological and historic resources of Georgia. The development of the NAHRGIS was a collaborative effort between the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Georgia Department of Community Affairs, and the University of Georgia.  It is being used by State and local transportation planning agencies as a preliminary screening tool to locate natural and cultural resources within a transportation project corridor and evaluate the potential impacts of the proposed project on those resources. For more information, link to Natural, Archaeological and Historic Resources Geographic Information System on FHWA’s GIS in Transportation database or link to the NAHRGIS website.

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Minnesota: Statewide Archeological Predictive Model
The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MNDOT) developed a GIS-based predictive model to help avoid conflicts of proposed highway alignments with archeological sites throughout Minnesota.  The predictive model uses geospatial layers of known pre-1837 archeological sites and statistical tools to predict the probability of encountering new, undiscovered sites along proposed project alignments.  Use of the model has saved MNDOT an average of $3 million per year in avoiding project delays, mitigation costs, and loss of cultural resources.  For more information, link to Mn/Model Statewide Archaeological Predictive Model on the MNDOT website.

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Pennsylvania: Historical, Archeological Sites GIS Website
The Cultural Resources Geographic Information System (CRGIS) is a web-based GIS inventory of the historic and archaeological sites and surveys stored in the files of the Bureau for Historic Preservation (BHP).  The CRGIS website has catalogued basic information on all the historical and archeological sites recorded in museum commission files, and allows authorized users to create GIS maps showing the location of all recorded historic buildings and most of the recorded archeological sites.  The project is a joint partnership between the Pennsylvania DOT (PennDOT) and Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC). Previously, transportation planners and consultants had to physically visit the map room at the PHMC headquarters in Harrisburg and pore over paper maps and other files, incurring costly travel and per diem expenses for a transportation agency.   For more information, see FHWA’s Applications of GIS database website link, Pennsylvania: Historical, Archeological Sites GIS Website and visit the Cultural Resources Geographic Information website.

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Colorado: GIS-Based Cumulative Effects Assessment
The University of Colorado conducted a research study, sponsored by Colorado DOT, to demonstrate how GIS technology can be used as a tool for performing cumulative effects assessments.  The study compiled a set of geospatial environmental databases from existing sources for a 2000 square mile region along Interstate 25 from Denver to the Wyoming border, and conducted four different environmental assessments using the geospatial data and GIS technology.  The study also developed standardized formats for the data that could serve as the basis collecting and maintaining key environmental data statewide.  For more information, link to GIS-Based Cumulative Effects Assessment.

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Utah: RoadVeg
Utah DOT maintenance division is using an Integrated Roadside Vegetation Management (IRVM) strategy to conducting roadside maintenance.   As part of this program, the agency has developed a geospatial inventory of invasive plants, and a GIS application, RoadVeg, that enables vegetation management experts to track the spread of invasive pant species, or to monitor the progress of mitigation strategies.  UDOT is systematically field surveying, and assessing all state-maintained roadways for invasive plant species, and entering this information into the RoadVeg system.  For more information, link to RoadVeg on FHWA’s Applications of GIS database website or link to Utah DOT's Vegetation web page.

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Sacramento, California: SACOG Blueprint Project
The Sacramento Council of Governments (SACOG) Blueprint Project for smart growth is an ongoing scenario planning process the for Sacramento region.  The project uses a number of geospatial data layers (e.g., land use, transportation networks, hydrography, environmentally sensitive areas) and user-friendly GIS-based scenario planning software to depict existing conditions and to portray the future scenarios based on different growth rates and alternative land use and transportation investment policies.  SACOG is also using the Blueprint project to engage State and regional resource agencies by providing opportunities for agencies to confirm or revise the environmental data being utilized. A website has also been developed to provide information and increase public involvement in the Blueprint Project and process.  For more information link to the Sacramento, California: SACOG Blueprint Project summary on the FHWA environmental streamlining practices database or link to SACOG’s BluePrint website.

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FHWA: GIS Tools for Transportation and Community Planning
The Transportation, Community, and System Preservation (TCSP) Program is a comprehensive program of research and demonstration grants to investigate the relationships between transportation, community, and system preservation plans and practices and identify private sector-based initiatives to improve such relationships.  To date, the TCSP Program has funded projects in all 50 states and the District of Columbia that link transportation, community, and system preservation practices. Many of these projects have applied innovative analytical approaches utilizing GIS to assess and communicate the impacts of transportation and land use decisions on mobility, the environment, and economic development.  FHWA has prepared a case study report that documents how GIS was used in several of the TCSP projects.  The report is available on FHWA's TCSP website http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/tcsp/case7.html.

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Florida: Environmental Screening Tool (EST)
Florida DOT has revamped its procedures for statewide transportation planning, project selection and development, and environmental review, with the goal of reducing the time for project implementation without compromising human and natural environments.  The procedures, known as the Efficient Transportation Decision making (ETDM) process, engage land use, transportation, and environmental resource agencies early in the planning phase to reduce conflicts among permitting agencies. The process uses an interactive, web-based GIS called the Environmental Screening Tool (EST). The EST contains statewide geospatial environmental data from resource agencies as well as project-specific data from FDOT and MPOs. EST users can conduct basic GIS analysis to view how a project impacts areas and resources that are of concern to them. By providing an easily accessible information portal to sponsoring agencies and the public, improvements can be made to the planning, scoping, permitting, evaluation and feedback processes associated with transportation decision making.  For more information, link to Environmental Screening Tool on FHWA’s GIS in Transportation database or link to Florida DOT’s Efficient Transportation Decision Making website.

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Texas: Ecological Assessment Protocol (TEAP)
The Texas Ecological Assessment Protocol (TEAP) is a planning and screening-level assessment tool that uses GIS and geospatial data to identify ecologically important areas throughout Texas.  Ecological importance is based by three criteria: diversity of land cover, presence of rare and endangered species, and sustainability potential.  TEAP is being used in transportation project planning to determine appropriate areas to conduct more detailed field assessments, and in mitigation discussions to avoid ecologically important areas, minimize impacts to those areas, and compensate for unavoidable impacts.  By identifying potentially sensitive areas early in the transportation planning process, TXDOT is able to develop more environmentally friendly projects as well as reduce project delays.  For more information, link to the Ecological Assessment Protocol summary on FHWA’s GIS in Transportation database or link to Texas Ecological Assessment Protocol (TEAP) Report on the Environmental Protection Agency’s website.

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Ohio: Noise Barrier Inventory
Ohio DOT (ODOT) has conducted an inventory of noise barriers located along state maintained highways located in each of Ohio’s metropolitan planning areas.  The inventory included geospatial locations for each of the noise barriers, along with accurate measurement of barrier dimensions, characteristics, and site-specific condition.  The noise barrier inventory was converted into a geospatial feature database, with links to digital photographs of each barrier.  The database is being used by ODOT to develop comprehensive state-wide noise barrier maintenance plans and replacement schedules. For more information, link to the project summary posted on the AASHTO GIS-T proceedings website.

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Florida: Efficient Transportation Decision Making Process (ETDM)
Florida DOT’s Efficient Transportation Decision-Making (ETDM) Process is an approach to statewide transportation planning and project development designed to make the environmental review process easier and more streamlined by engaging land use, transportation, and environmental resource agencies early in the planning phase to reduce conflicts among permitting agencies.  The ETDM process is comprised of three phases: planning, programming and project development. The planning and programming phases are screening processes that engage resource agencies early, allowing FDOT to identify and resolve potential problems and issues before the project reaches the environmental review and permitting phases. The Environmental Screening Tool (EST), an interactive web-based GIS application, is used throughout the screening phases to communicate project information to agencies and the public. The EST is used to identify critical environmental and cultural issues early, involve resource agencies and the public in the transportation planning process, supply the necessary data for informed decision-making, and decrease the time and cost associated with project development and permitting.  A detailed case study report, Florida: Efficient Transportation Decision Making Process, is posted on FHWA’s Planning and Environment Linkages website or link to Florida DOT’s Efficient Transportation Decision Making website.

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Washington: Environmental GIS Workbench
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has created the Environmental GIS Workbench to enable staff to access over 60 layers of environmental or natural resource management data. The WSDOT Environmental Information Program works with State, Federal, and other agencies to maintain a collection of the best available data for statewide environmental analysis. The Environmental GIS Workbench is a custom GIS application that provides WSDOT staff with tools for locating transportation projects and displaying a variety of environmental data themes for that location. For more information, link to Environmental GIS Workbench Summary on FHWA’s GIS in Transportation database or link to the Environmental GIS Workbench on the WSDOT website.

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Arkansas: Southeast Arkansas I-69 Project: Integrating GIS with Inter-Agency and Public Involvement
 

The Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department (AHTD) used GIS technology and early, proactive coordination with state and Federal resource agencies, the public, and Native American tribes to expedite the NEPA project development process for the I-69 Connector. The GIS was used to manage large volumes of geospatial environmental data for a project area that covered over 600 square miles. Efficient data access, combined with early involvement of state and Federal resource agencies, Tribal agencies,  and the general public helped AHTD to limit the number potential project alignments to areas that avoided or minimized involvement with wetlands, farmland soils, archeological and cultural sites, etc. For more information, link to the Southeast Arkansas I-69 Project: Integrating GIS with Inter-Agency and Public Involvement summary on the FHWA environmental streamlining practices database.

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New Hampshire: Risk Assessment Survey for Contamination and Appraisal of Land (RASCAL)
New Hampshire DOT (NHDOT) project development policy requires that all properties potentially affected by transportation projects be screened for hazardous materials (hazmat) issues, and that this screening be performed as early as possible in project planning to maximize the time available for assessment of contamination and to allow for the incorporation of this data into purchasing decisions, route selection, construction planning, and health and safety plan preparation. RASCAL is an integrated system of field collection equipment (personal digital assistants, GPS receivers, and digital cameras) and a web-based GIS that stores and manages the data collected from each project site.  The data is used identify key hazmat issues, to rank the contamination risk, and to generate cost estimates of remedial action, for use in determining property values during the right-of-way appraisal process. It also provides NHDOT with more accurate and easily retrievable data, which allows for prioritization of sites for remediation. For more information, link to Risk Assessment Survey for Contamination and Appraisal of Land (RASCAL) on the FHWA environmental streamlining practices database or to NHDOT’s  Hazardous Materials and Contamination website.

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Maryland: Innovative Approach to Wetland Mitigation and Environmental Stewardship
The Maryland GreenPrint is an interactive web-based GIS that shows the relative ecological importance of every land parcel in the state. GreenPrint represents the public interface to a broad-based program developed by state resource agencies to protect undeveloped lands and watersheds of high ecological value through targeted acquisitions and easements, and by linking these acquisitions through a system of green corridors or connectors.  Maryland’s State Highway Administration’s (SHA) planning, environmental, and design staff use the GreenPrint geospatial data, along with resource information and watershed plans from local jurisdictions to avoid, minimize, or mitigate the impacts of proposed transportation projects.  The SHA is currently using the Green Infrastructure approach to not only target avoidance and minimization efforts, but to identify potential mitigation sites and environmental stewardship opportunities as part of the US 301 Waldorf Area Transportation Improvement Project.  For more information, link to Maryland: Innovative Approach to Wetland Mitigation and Environmental Stewardship on the FHWA environmental streamlining practices database or link to the U.S. 301 Project Website.

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Washington: State Landscape Permeability Modeling
Researchers with the U.S. Forest Service conducted a regional-scale evaluation of “landscape permeability” for large carnivores in Washington and adjacent portions of British Columbia and Idaho.  Landscape permeability is defined as a measure of the ability of land between protected wildlife habitats to allow passage of animals. GIS-based models of landscape permeability were developed for four large carnivore species: wolves, lynx, wolverines, and grizzly bears.  The models used geospatial layers of land cover type, road density, human population density, elevation, and slope to create a consistent measure of estimated landscape permeability between five habitat areas in western Washington.  The results of the analysis can be used in highway planning efforts to identify and develop high priority corridors across existing highways, develop more effective conservation strategies, contribute to future field survey efforts, and help identify management priorities for the focal species.  For more information, link to Washington: State Landscape Permeability Modeling or link to Landscape Permeability for Large Carnivores in Washington.

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