01023118

Component

This paper describes how Community Impact Assessment (CIA) is the process used for analyzing proposed transportation actions and also to determine their effects on the human environment. Environmental statutes and laws have been in place nearly four decades that require consideration/protection of a wide range of human environment resources, including individuals? civil rights. CIA has since evolved, seeking to address the complexities and far-reaching effects of transportation actions on communities including mobility/accessibility, land use, economics, life safety, health, aesthetics, socio-cultural, displacement and equity considerations. Current states-of-practice include innovative and multidisciplinary strategies, such as context sensitive solutions (CSS), process improvement strategies (streamlining), sophisticated data analysis, growing attention to public participation and consideration of indirect and cumulative effects (ICE), to better understand the complex, cross-cutting nature of interactions between transportation projects and communities. In particular, recent research in social capital can shed light on how communities function, and thus, on potential disruptions and benefits. In the future, such research will contribute to the framework for social/community indicators by identifying relevant variables and data sources. The process will also require more accurate, complete and finely grained data, as well as an ongoing evolution of agencies? paradigms and priorities. This paper describes the legal and historical developments that resulted in the inclusion of community effects in the transportation planning and project development decision-making processes, current states-of-practice, current challenges associated with the CIA process and future directions of CIA. Understanding this evolution and future prospects will help guide practitioners and researchers as they continue to improve assessment methodologies.

01020180

06-1072

English

18p

2006

Transportation Research Board 85th Annual Meeting

CD-ROM

Figures (1) ; References (34)

Accessibility; Context sensitive design; Decision making; Economic analysis; Land use; Mobility; Safety programs; Socioeconomic factors; State of the practice; Streamlining

Community impact assessment

Administration and Management; Economics; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Safety and Human Factors; Society; I10: Economics and Administration

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2006 Paper #06-1072

TRIS, TRB

Mar 3 2006 10:34AM