Abstract:
This presentation will outline how the St. Cloud Area Planning Organization (APO) bridged the gap between Transportation Equity Act for the Twenty-First Century (TEA-21) legislation and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations. This gap was bridged by conducting a planning level scoping process that narrowed down forty-two (42) road and bridge improvement alternatives within a large sub-area to three (3) separate projects that have been identified for NEPA analysis. This process was unique in-that a report similar in content to an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Scoping Document (SD) was published and distributed to state and federal review agencies prior to initiating the NEPA process. This report, entitled West Metro Sub-Area Information Document, summarized transportation planning work and analysis typically only available to state and federal agencies for projects requiring an EIS. The three (3) projects that were identified for NEPA analysis in the Information Document all included multiple road and/or bridge improvement alternatives. The respective projects were ultimately selected based on their cumulative ability to adequately address the West Metro Sub-Area transportation purpose and need, their ability to minimize social, economic and environmental impacts, as well as political acceptance. Analysis and study conclusions for this planning process were open to significant public debate and received extensive local media exposure. The Information Document was prepared prior to the NEPA process to limit Environmental Assessment (EA) consultant costs and to expedite EA approvals by engaging state and federal officials and the public early-on in the planning process. Another benefit of preparing the Information Document is that this document could possibly take the place of the NEPA required EIS Scoping Document, should an EIS be determined necessary for any of the projects at a future date.
