Evaluations of FHWA Research & Technology Program Projects. Evaluation of the Planning and Environment Linkages Program

The Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) Planning and Environment Linkages (PEL) Program represents a collaborative and integrated approach to transportation decision-making that (1) considers environmental, community, and economic goals early in the transportation planning process, and (2) uses the information, analysis, and products developed during planning to inform the environmental review process. Using PEL, state and local agencies can incorporate environmental and community values into transportation decisions early in planning and carry these considerations through project development and delivery. To deploy PEL, FHWA developed numerous resources on the topic, conducted interviews with selected state departments of transportation (DOTs) regarding their PEL implementation, and documented key takeaways from those discussions. NCHRP Legal Research Digest 89: Planning and Environment Linkages: Review of Statutory Authority and Case Law highlights key statutory and regulatory authorities for PEL and corresponding agency guidance and policy; it also includes a description and comparison of the various approaches to PEL at the federal and state levels. The FHWA Research & Technology (R&T) evaluation program was initiated in 2013 to assess and communicate the value and effectiveness of FHWA R&T investment. The objective of the R&T evaluation program is to document the impact of the projects, demonstrate accountability to funders and policymakers, and identify lessons learned and best practices that can be applied to future projects/programs, thus completing the innovation lifecycle.  The Transportation Research Board (TRB), in collaboration with the FHWA, is overseeing the TRB/FHWA Program Evaluation (TFPE) to evaluate such programs. There is a need to evaluate the PEL program to establish the degree of efficiency, implementation, effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and attribution to assess and communicate its value. Through TFPE, an evaluation report could assess the benefits of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) project development and cost savings of a PEL study or process, and it could also highlight challenges of the PEL program. The objective of this research is to develop and execute an evaluation plan for the FHWA’s PEL program.

• Record URL:
  • http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=5641
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contract to a Performing Organization has not yet been awarded.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $299725
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 07

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Cooperative Research Programs

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Zelinski, Patrick

• Start Date: 20240930
• Expected Completion Date: 20260530
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Best practices; Decision making; Environmental policy; Project management; State departments of transportation; Transportation planning
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Environment; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Policy;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01910129
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 07
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Feb 27 2024 2:34PM