Transcript
Page 1: Environmental Concerns with Estimating

Federal Lands Highway

Commitment to Excellence

Environmental Concerns with Environmental Concerns with EstimatingEstimating

TEA/TUG ConferencePortland, MaineOctober 2006

Jack Van DopEastern Federal Lands Highway Division

Federal Highway Administration

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Federal Lands Highway

Commitment to Excellence

PresentationPresentation

Environmental regulations Implementation of transportation

projects Documentation and level of

environmental mitigation Examples of environmental mitigation

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Federal Lands Highway

Commitment to Excellence

Increase in environmental regulations – •Federal•State•Local

Increase in environmental issues regulated•Cultural•Natural•Social

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Federal Lands Highway

Commitment to Excellence

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

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Federal Lands Highway

Commitment to Excellence

Cost EstimateCost 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

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Federal Lands Highway

Commitment to Excellence

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Federal Lands Highway

Commitment to Excellence

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

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Federal Lands Highway

Commitment to Excellence

• 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

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Federal Lands Highway

Commitment to Excellence

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?

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Federal Lands Highway

Commitment to Excellence

How do you determine what environmental requirements, mitigations and promises were made for a project?

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Federal Lands Highway

Commitment to Excellence

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Federal Lands Highway

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Read and Review the NEPA Read and Review the NEPA DocumentDocument

Look for proximity to:•Water and Wetlands•Historic Properties•Endangered Species•Unique Natural Features•Federal Lands•Etc.

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Federal Lands Highway

Commitment to Excellence

Read and ReviewRead 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

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Federal Lands Highway

Commitment to Excellence

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.

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Federal Lands Highway

Commitment to Excellence

Pennsylvania AvenuePennsylvania Avenue

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Federal Lands Highway

Commitment to Excellence

Pennsylvania AvenuePennsylvania Avenue

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Federal Lands Highway

Commitment to Excellence

Pennsylvania AvenuePennsylvania Avenue

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Great Smoky Great Smoky Mountains TunnelsMountains Tunnels

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Federal Lands Highway

Commitment to Excellence

Great Smoky Great Smoky Mountains TunnelsMountains Tunnels

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Great Smoky Great Smoky Mountains TunnelsMountains Tunnels

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Average P

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Southbound

Northbound

Average Peak Hourly Volumes by DateNovember 1999 to April 2000

NovemberDecemberJanuary FebruaryMarch April

80 Days

119 Days

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Federal Lands Highway

Commitment to Excellence

Great Smoky Great Smoky Mountains TunnelsMountains Tunnels

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Federal Lands Highway

Commitment to Excellence

Great Smoky Great Smoky Mountains TunnelsMountains Tunnels

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Federal Lands Highway

Commitment to Excellence

North Shore RoadNorth Shore Road

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Federal Lands Highway

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North Shore RoadNorth Shore Road

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Questions?


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