2022 Environmental Excellence Awards

Telling the Rest of the Story: Incorporating Indigenous Perspectives in Public Transportation Projects

Over a number of years, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the FHWA Ohio Division partnered with several federally recognized Indian Tribes on the Vrooman Road Bridge project. The project involved the realignment of Vrooman Road in Lake County, Ohio, and the construction of a new high-level bridge on new location. The project area crosses tribal ancestral lands in the Grand River Valley. The valley has been highly valued for millennia due to its biodiversity and reliable water source as evidenced by the many important archaeological sites in the surrounding area. The 1,800-foot-long high-level bridge is located in a natural setting and a metropark occupies the valley beneath the bridge. Working with federally recognized Tribal partners, ODOT looked for ways to highlight the cultural history of the river valley and help the structure blend in with its surroundings. The result of this collaboration included the incorporation of Native artwork into the new bridge design and development of an educational kiosk in the metropark. A Seneca artist created the designs that were incorporated into the massive bridge piers. The design along the parapet of the bridge is based on a common incised design seen on precontact pottery along the southern shore of Lake Erie. The educational kiosk depicts the history of the area, describes the important natural resources found in the valley, and explains the meaning of the designs on the bridge using words in the Delaware/Lenape, Miami, Potawatomi, Seneca, and Shawnee languages. The context sensitive aesthetic treatments on the bridge transformed what could have been a concrete eyesore into a work of art that enhances the natural beauty of the river valley.  Furthermore, the metropark kiosk provides an opportunity for the tribes to share educational information with the public and have part of their story told.

Snake River Bridge Reconstruction and Wildlife Crossing Integration

Near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, the congested Teton Pass Highway (Wyoming Highway 22) crosses the Snake River on a deteriorated bridge deck that is nearing the end of its service life. Recognizing an opportunity to not only address a structurally deficient bridge but deliver lasting benefits for wildlife, travelers, and the surrounding environments, the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) proactively pursued stakeholder and community engagement to shape and expand the project to strategically address a diverse set of challenges–including wildlife-vehicle collisions and congestion. As part of this, the project will extend the Snake River Bridge to accommodate a wildlife underpass and construct three additional wildlife crossings that will facilitate safe wildlife movements, especially for large animals such as moose, elk, and deer. WYDOT is also implementing improvements to enhance recreation and natural resource education in the nearby Rendezvous Park, with work that will include increasing wetlands along ponds, creating a boardwalk, and deepening a community swimming hole. The project will ultimately support positive interaction with and appreciation for the natural environment while addressing the needs and ongoing health of wildlife and the ecosystem. In this work, WYDOT took what was a critical bridge replacement that's vital to the surrounding community and regional economy and expanded it to improve congestion, enhance community outcomes, and serve a variety of wildlife within the Greater Yellowstone National Park ecosystem.

Pathways to Decarbonizing Transportation

Led by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), Minnesota launched the Pathways to Decarbonizing Transportation project, a multi-agency effort to identify specific strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from transportation–the leading source of climate pollution in Minnesota–and to make progress towards state climate action goals. This was the first-ever state-agency-sponsored effort in the Midwest to develop specific strategies to reduce GHG emissions from transportation. As part of this project, MnDOT engaged in extensive collaboration with the public and other state agencies, hosting workshops with state and national transportation experts to identify potential strategies, leading public workshops around the state, gathering online feedback from more than 1,500 Minnesotans to identify public priorities and concerns, and identifying strategies, policy recommendations, and actions based on public engagement. This remarkable multi-agency collaborative effort led to numerous outcomes: low- and zero-emission vehicle standards that are projected to reduce GHG emissions by over one million tons by 2030; a $2 million-per-year Clean Transportation Pilot Program to fund electric vehicles (EVs), EV charging, and other clean transportation technologies; the formation of a bipartisan five-state compact, REV Midwest; the country's first EV credit for high-occupancy tolling lanes; and the creation of the MnDOT Sustainable Transportation Advisory Council, a formal group of public, private, and non-profit stakeholders who recommend strategies for MnDOT to reduce climate pollution. This impressive project laid the groundwork for transportation climate action in Minnesota and serves as a model for other states throughout the nation.

Gleason Beach Roadway Realignment Project

Hugging California's Pacific Coast, State Route (SR) 1 is a critical transportation corridor for residents, businesses, visitors, and first responders. Despite the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) spending several million dollars over the last 20 years to stabilize a stretch of SR 1 near Gleason Beach in Sonoma County, no measures could stave off the effects of coastal erosion and advancing sea level rise. In close coordination with partner agencies, Caltrans led a robust, innovative, and inclusive public outreach and engagement program and designed a roadway realignment project that moves a segment of SR 1 nearly 400 feet inland. Not only will the project's new 850-foot-long bridge maintain a safe transportation route for roadway users through 2100, it will also improve plant and wildlife habitat, eliminate a fish migration barrier, and include new accommodations for bicyclists and pedestrians, enhancing public access to the California coastline. As the first regional transportation project to implement managed retreat in the face of sea level rise, this project will serve as an example of adaptive management in California and beyond.

Advancing Science to Better Consider the Ability of Nature-Based Solutions to Protect Transportation Infrastructure from Sea Level Rise and Flooding

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Effects of Sea Level Rise Program has included a focus on pavements since transportation professionals expressed a need for more information to effectively consider nature-based solutions within the current planning and design constraints for coastal projects. Through a competitive funding opportunity, two research teams are currently considering the transportation and ecological needs of Alabama, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Maine to evaluate the impact of repeated inundation of road surfaces on deterioration. These projects, and others funded in the future, will help to evaluate the use of nature-based solutions, such as sand dunes or living shorelines, rather than conventional hardened engineering designs, such as sea walls, to protect coastal roads from sea level rise and flooding. The project teams are evaluating the effects of sea level rise on coastal road and ferry access infrastructure, examining the causal linkages between coastal hazards and pavement damage, and identifying primary coastal processes that cause pavement deterioration and damage. These projects address infrastructure and environmental considerations in a holistic way that marries the best coastal science on the effectiveness of nature-based solutions to reduce coastal-flooding with the best science on pavement deterioration due to inundation. This research will lead to increased consideration of a range of conventional and nature-based approaches for the protection of road infrastructure in the future.

Mitigation Site for OR 140

Located in South Central Oregon, Klamath Lake is the largest lake in Oregon and is a critical habitat for two endangered fish species that are a cultural pillar for the Klamath Tribes. During the past half century, concrete laden with asbestos was dumped along the Klamath Lake shoreline at this former mill site. In a project that started as legally required mitigation for highway improvements on adjacent Oregon Highway 140, what followed was an extensive wetland restoration resulting from an integrative cooperation among the Oregon Department of Transportation, the Klamath Tribes, multiple Federal agencies, and private personnel. The mitigation project included the dramatic transformation of 45 acres on the shores of Klamath Lake from a degraded, contaminated landscape to a complex of wetlands, channels, and open water. With close and productive collaboration among agencies and the Tribes, this project went far beyond its original scope as a highway mitigation project and resulted in the removal and encapsulation of contaminated debris, the excavation of a large bay and a series of channels, the restoration of former wetlands, the use of innovative approaches to water quality improvement–such as floating islands, plant mats, and channels–and the creation of a half-acre engineered pond that will serve as an experimental nursery for critically endangered fish and advance the science for their potential recovery.

The Frontier MPO: Using Innovations from the FHWA Framework for Incorporating Health into Transportation Corridor Planning to Advance Health and Equity in Fort Smith, Arkansas

Fort Smith, Arkansas suffers from some of the highest rates of obesity, cardiac arrest, diabetes, and lung cancer in the nation, and nearly 25 percent of residents live in poverty. Access to medical facilities, fresh foods, and community activity centers in the region is hindered by the lack of connectivity, deteriorated sidewalks, nonexistent bicycle lanes and paths, and few transit amenities along major corridors, including the Rogers Avenue corridor. Leveraging FHWA's Framework for Better Integrating Health into Transportation Corridor Planning, the Frontier Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) formed critical partnerships, enhanced public engagement to collect public health and equity data, and developed criteria for Rogers Avenue corridor improvements that incorporate health equity and mobility access. In partnership with Arkansas College of Health Education, Frontier MPO used the Our Voice Initiative–a smartphone app that allows users to take photos, geo-locate issues, provide narrative, and generate reports–to empower citizens to provide crowdsourced data, resulting in nearly 250 photos that helped highlight challenges, concerns, and inequities in historically marginalized neighborhoods. This highly successful project won grants to examine sustainable micro-freight hubs within low-income neighborhoods, develop action plans for a walkable region, improve health outcomes, implement safe infrastructure improvements at 22 intersections, and pilot shared micromobility for affordable, accessible housing. Through interagency and community collaboration, Frontier MPO established a new model for equitable health-based decision-making in the region's transportation investments.

I-15/US-20 Connector PEL

For more than 20 years, stakeholders in Idaho Falls, Idaho, had conducted discussions and studies to consider improvements to the Interstate 15 (I-15) and U.S. Highway 20 (US-20) junction and corridors, without any resulting agreement for how to move forward. Taking a new approach, the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) collaborated with the City of Idaho Falls, Bonneville County, and the Bonneville Metropolitan Planning Organization (BMPO) to conduct a Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) study, which proved to be an important preliminary step in redesigning the corridor to provide safe and reliable travel for the next 25 years and to meet anticipated future growth. Engaging in extensive proactive public involvement, ITD partnered with numerous local agencies, held multiple public meetings that saw record attendance, and conducted two neighborhood-specific meetings to address concerns. Through the PEL study process, ITD evaluated the potential impacts of more than a dozen alternative plans and removed from consideration those plans that would impact Veterans Memorial Park, a Tribal burial site, and historically disadvantaged communities. These efforts took what had previously been a seven- to ten-year process and completed it in three years. The success of the project's collaboration, partnerships, and extensive proactive public involvement helped shorten the project timeline and build community support for two refined corridor redesign alternatives moving into environmental review. This effort was the first PEL study done in Idaho and is now the leading example for five more studies taking place across the state.

Town Branch Commons Corridor

Town Branch Commons Corridor is a transformative park and trail system through downtown Lexington, Kentucky that traces the historic Town Branch Creek, Lexington's first water source located in a culvert under modern-day streets. Led by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, a complex group of public, private, and non-profit partners came together to plan, fund, and implement this corridor. The project transforms a vehicular passage into a safe multimodal public space connecting over 22 miles of continuous walking and biking paths, expands urban tree canopy in the corridor, manages stormwater, connects diverse neighborhoods along its path, and links the downtown core with the Greater Bluegrass Region. The project received funding from six different programs, including $24 million in Federal funds, a $7.1 million state infrastructure loan, and $11.8 million in local funding. With multiple construction sites and timelines on this large-scale public infrastructure project, close and frequent collaboration among partners maximized construction efficiencies, reaped cost benefits from cooperative phasing, and minimized impacts to transit operations. Effective partnerships between park boards, local community advocates, project funding sponsors, neighborhood project developers, transit agencies, local non-profit organizations, and state and Federal agencies, made this project possible. Multiple projects and visions for Town Branch Commons Corridor coalesced into a major public infrastructure improvement that connects people, increases safe biking and walking opportunities, expands the trail network, advances economic and environmental goals, and creates a more resilient community.

OR244: Whiskey Creek Culvert Replacement

In northeast Oregon, a section of the Hilgard to Ukiah Highway (Oregon Route 244) was prone to flooding following heavy rains, rapid snowmelt, and other weather conditions, causing unsafe road conditions from ice and water on the pavement and roadway/shoulder damage from erosion. The primary cause of the flooding was an undersized culvert, which was in the wrong place–a decades-old 60-inch corrugated metal pipe–that connected Whiskey Creek to the Grande Ronde River. To address this problem, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) replaced the Whiskey Creek culvert with a 22-foot-wide, pre-cast reinforced concrete box culvert that improved the alignment of the confluence and can accommodate higher water flows. The project protected an adjacent archaeological site and wetlands, and maintained traffic flow during construction. Furthermore, the new structure eliminated a partial fish passage barrier, opening up access to nearly 16 miles of fish habitat. This culvert replacement project made the confluence of Whiskey Creek and the Grande Ronde River better able to withstand flooding, benefiting local landowners, Snake River Basin steelhead, natural stream processes, and the traveling public.

University Avenue Corridor Study and Roadway Improvement Project

In Lafayette, Louisiana, the University Avenue commercial corridor was once a vibrant place until the oil bust of the 1980s, which resulted in economic decline. For businesses along University Avenue, previous improvements to the roadway resulted in acquisition of right-of-way that removed parking facilities and sidewalks that had provided access for residents–a change that created barriers for mobility. In 2016, Lafayette Consolidated Government partnered with the Acadiana Planning Commission's (APC) Metropolitan Planning Organization to conduct a corridor study along University Avenue utilizing Federal transportation funding. In conducting this work, the project team actively engaged minority communities to address injustices of the past and decades of neglect, and envision a new transportation facility that would provide safe and equitable access for community members while serving as a catalyst for $32 million in commercial redevelopment.

The project team conducted public involvement as the first action and went beyond the traditional public engagement process of standard public meetings to display project information. The public led the conversation with the consultants on the expected goals and results of the roadway improvements, and APC worked to document and harness the history of the Four Corners neighborhood by engaging in intergenerational community visioning. APC staff used a technique called PhotoVoice to gather stories from elder residents, interview younger residents, and together create a vision for future redevelopment. The public were able to determine the improvements of the roadway by utilizing the data collection and studies from the consultation to decide the best solution for their area. The corridor plan has resulted in millions of dollars in Federal funding to improve the roadway and attract business investments, including mixed income housing and retail facilities, ultimately improving the livability and economic opportunity of the corridor for its residents.

Flint Hills Trail: Connecting Communities, Cultures, and Landscapes

Passing through the largest remaining area of tallgrass prairie in the U.S., the Flint Hills Trail is the longest trail in Kansas and the eighth-longest rail-trail in America. Part of the coast-to-coast American Discovery Trail, the Flint Hills Trail is a multimodal trail that provides safe routes to schools, businesses, and parks for people of all abilities and a safer alternate bike, pedestrian, and equestrian corridor off of state highways and county roads. The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) conducted the planning of the trail to be equitable and inclusive of local cultures, interests, and histories, while providing accessible multimodal connections to cities, towns, rural communities, and the natural landscapes. In 2019, KDWP approved the use of e-bikes at all state parks, including the Flint Hills Trail, and eliminated a previous permit requirement at a connecting trail to make the now-157 miles of trails free to all populations, expand use, and spur tourism and economic growth. Communities have seen a surge in economic benefits along the trail, including the addition of campgrounds, shops, restaurants, and a $4.4 million public development in Ottawa that includes greenspace, covered pavilions, and a playground. Upon completion of one additional trail, the Flint Hills Trail will provide a direct linkage of 242 miles of trails through nine counties. The Flint Hills Trail has become a destination trail in the Midwest and an example of leadership to other trail development efforts, resulting in non-profit groups and other entities forming a new trail culture in Kansas.

SW 1st Street Bridge Replacement at Miami River

Constructed in 1929, the SW 1st Street Bridge in downtown Miami, Florida, exceeded its design life by 30 years, exhibiting structural deficiencies and advanced corrosion. The bridge also had problematic clearances within the Miami River and over North and South River Drives, as evidenced by repeated vessel and truck strikes. Replacing the deficient bridge was not straightforward, though, as it was connected via unique catwalks to adjacent residences of the historic Miami River Inn, which are features that contribute to the surrounding South River Drive Historic District. Facing initial significant stakeholder opposition to the project, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District Six invested in historic resource preservation and consultation during project development and engaged in extensive community involvement. As part of this, FDOT formed the Cultural Resources Committee–comprised of representatives from the Miami River Inn, local stakeholders, and numerous local, state, and Federal agencies–whose main goal was to minimize cultural resource effects while meeting the project's needs. Through this collaborative process, FDOT overcame initial stakeholder opposition, ensured the new bridge design retained compatibility with the surrounding Historic District, and avoided adverse effects to project-adjacent residences listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The resulting replacement bridge improved clearances for vehicular and vessel traffic, enhanced community connectivity with greenway connections and bicycle facilities, and improved safety and operations for multiple modes of transportation in and around downtown Miami. The project team's approach accelerated this critical infrastructure project through the NEPA process, saved significant additional cost, and avoided an additional 24 months of environmental evaluation, while fostering public relations and preserving significant historic resources.

Vermont Highways & Habitats: Road Ecology Training for Transportation Professionals

The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) has been conducting Highways & Habitats trainings since 2002, utilizing FHWA State Planning and Research funds. This training takes transportation professionals into the field to explore highway infrastructure's effects on habitat and collaboratively investigate the issues and solutions. With wildlife and habitat experts and Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department biologists as instructors, transportation practitioners with diverse roles in VTrans can see, up close, the habitats and wildlife that are endemic to Vermont. Widely recognized as culture changing, the Highways & Habitats training program has enabled project managers and engineers to approach projects with an embedded baseline understanding of road ecology and make informed decisions regarding wildlife and habitat on Federal-Aid projects. The demand for this information was so great that VTrans expanded the training to a tiered approach, now offering online trainings in addition to in-person classroom and field trainings. Highways & Habitats has been presented at regional and international conferences related to transportation and is now being modeled by others in the Northeast. Through this program, VTrans has become recognized as a leader among Departments of Transportation in terms of proactive wildlife initiatives. This training has greatly contributed to an agency culture and ethic that values environmental excellence.