US Department of Transportation

FHWA PlanWorks: Better Planning, Better Projects

US Department of Transportation

FHWA Planworks: Better Planning, Better Projects

ENV-5: Approve Evaluation Criteria, Methods and Measures

Environmental Review/NEPA Merged with Permitting

Description:

Evaluation criteria, methods and measures are used to compare how alternatives meet the purpose and need. The criteria used in long range planning and corridor planning may influence those used in environmental review. In some resource agency guidance, establishing performance measures is done prior to purpose and need. In this respect there is a strong connection between purpose and need, study area, and evaluation criteria/performance measures. Land use and capital improvement planning data are also analyzed so that the criteria and measures incorporated will ensure the alternatives are consistent with these plans. The evaluation criteria, methods and measures are developed with input and data from both partners and stakeholders, inlcuding interagency consultation on project-level analysis.

There is information developed in prior Key Decisions that informs this step.

Basics:

The first table describes the purpose and anticipated outcome of a Key Decision. If the decision is federally mandated, the purpose and outcome will relate to the legal intent.

The second table describes roles for key partners with legal decision making authority in the transportation process. The roles indicate the influence a partner can have on a decision, and show each partner where their input is most needed. For a full understanding of roles see the Partner Portal.

Purpose

To compare the ability of each alternative to address the purpose and need as well as supporting goals of the project.

Outcome

Specific criteria, methods and measures of performance for evaluating and comparing alternatives.

Partner	Role Type	Description
MPO	Advisor	Provides support as needed for consideration of evaluation methods to compare project alternatives.
FHWA/FTA	Decision Maker	Approves the evaluation criteria, methods and measures that will govern the comparison of alternatives.
State DOT	Decision Maker	Ensures the approved evaluation criteria allows full consideration of all reasonable alternatives.
Resource Agency	Advisor	Support the identification and use of evaluation criteria, methods and measures that reflect resource agencies' vision, goals and priorities and are informed by ecological planning. State and local air agencies consultation on air quality evaluation criteria, methods, and measures.
Public Transportation Operator(s)	Advisor	Provides support as needed for consideration of evaluation methods to compare project alternatives.

Links to Decisions

This table identifies the connection to other Key Decisions. The linkages highlight the importance of collaboration across transportation phases. Practitioners are encouraged to document the basis of the decision and consider information from previous Key Decisions.

Transportation Phases	Key Decision	What is Linked?	Purpose of Linkage
From Long Range Transportation Planning	LRP-3 - Approve Evaluation Criteria, Methods and Measures	The evaluation criteria, methods and measures used in long range planning	To inform the environmental review process in order to ensure that decision making is consistent across phases.
To Corridor Planning	COR-5 - Approve Evaluation Criteria, Methods and Measures	The evaluation criteria, methods and measures used in corridor planning	To inform the environmental review process in order to ensure that decision making is consistent across phases.

Questions to Consider

Questions are a way to gather input from partners and stakeholders that can be used to inform the decision. Decision makers can discuss the questions provided to ensure a broad array of interests are considered to support a collaborative process. Questions also allow staff to collect stakeholder interests, ensure these are included in the decision, and provide a response based on the decision outcome. Although Public Transportation is not represented by a PlanWorks Application, the information provided may be useful in a collaborative transportation process.

Category	Questions to Consider
Long Range Planning	Has the development of the criteria considered that from the LRTP?
Programming	Programming 19 No specific questions
Corridor Planning	Has the development of the criteria considered that from the corridor plan?
Environmental Review	Are the evaluation criteria and performance measures broad enough to differentiate between alternatives? Are there data, tools, and analysis capabilities available to use the proposed criteria, methodologies, and measures? Do the data, tools, and technical capability exist to conduct a NEPA level analysis of the above impacts? Do the criteria and methodology capture all aspects of the purpose and need? Do the evaluation criteria and measures reflect a balance of transportation and other community planning factors? Does the methodology limit the review of alternatives? Do the selected evaluation criteria, methods, and measures address all transportation problems identified? Do partners agree on the criteria and methodology?
Bicycles and Pedestrians	Have evaluation criteria, methods, and measures been identified that adequately measure the potential impacts of alternatives on bicycle and pedestrian network connectivity and accessibility?
Capital Improvement	Do existing capital improvement plans use any evaluation criteria, methods, or measures that would be helpful for this purpose? Is the evaluation criteria adequate to evaluate consistency with capital improvement plans?
Economic Development	Have evaluation criteria, metrics, or measures related to economic development been considered? Have all potential risk factors and affected parties been considered in defining economic development criteria and performance measures? Are analytical methods/tools available to measure and evaluate economic vitality or competiveness?
Freight	Is freight data available to support the evaluation criteria? Will criteria, methods, and measures allow comparison and ranking of projects based on their freight performance while also considering the impacts (beneficial or negative) of freight? Do existing freight plans include evaluation criteria, methods, and measures that could be used?
Greenhouse Gas Emissions	This Key Decision is not associated with the Application.
Health in Transportation	How have health and community stakeholders’ suggestions for criteria, methods, and measures been incorporated? Are the evaluation criteria, methods, and measures sufficient for assessing how each alternative impacts health? Are the evaluation criteria, methods, and measures compatible or consistent with those used in long-range planning, programming, corridor planning, or health-related plans and studies affecting the project area? Does this agency or health partners have sufficient data and analysis capabilities to apply these criteria, methods, and measures?
Human Environment and Communities	Are evaluation criteria and measures included that will demonstrate how transportation choices impact the quality of life in the project study area? How will the evaluation criteria demonstrate that alternatives are consistent with community values?
Land Use	Are data/tools available from land use and land use planning to inform the evaluation criteria? Do the evaluation criteria, methods, and measures include consideration of smart growth principles, if applicable?
Linking Planning and Operations	Have evaluation criteria, methods, and measures been included that adequately identify the potential impacts and benefits of TSMO strategies?
Natural Environment and Implementing Eco Logical	Are there evaluation criteria, metrics, or measures from ecological planning that should inform those used in environmental review? How will the evaluation criteria demonstrate that alternatives will protect environmental quality? How is the relative importance of resource types weighed and evaluated?
Performance Measures	Are metrics available from performance measurement on this facility or others in the study area? Are there completed projects to use for comparison? How do the selected criteria, methods, and measures support performance monitoring and reporting?
Planning and Environment Linkages	Have approved goals, evaluation criteria, methods, and measures from a PEL corridor planning or long range planning study been considered?
Public Private Partnerships	Are evaluation criteria related to financing, revenue generation, and project delivery included for evaluation of the effectiveness of P3 projects? Have all potential risk factors and affected parties been considered in defining the evaluation criteria and performance measures for P3 projects? Was private sector input used to develop the evaluation criteria and measures?
Public Transportation	Was private sector input used to develop the evaluation criteria and measures?
Safety	Are there evaluation criteria, metrics, or measures from safety to evaluate alternatives? Will safety specialists provide support (tools, methods) for evaluating the alternatives?
Stakeholder Collaboration	What was heard from stakeholders regarding their expectations for the project? Does stakeholder input reflect a diversity of interests? How did stakeholder interests inform the evaluation criteria and measures? What do stakeholders feel is important to evaluate alternatives?
Transportation Conformity	Will any hot-spot analysis take into account conformity requirements in the region? For conformity practices, please see the Application Reference Links.
Visioning and Transportation	Are evaluation criteria, methods, and measures consistent with priorities identified in visioning?

Data

The following list of data may be needed to support the Key Decision. Practitioners collect this information for decision makers to consider. Although Public Transportation is not represented by a PlanWorks Application, the information provided may be useful in a collaborative transportation process.

Category	Data to Consider
Long Range Planning	Evaluation criteria, methods and measures from long range transportation plans
Programming	No specific data
Corridor Planning	Evaluation criteria, methods and measures from corridor plans
Environmental Review	Purpose and need
Bicycles and Pedestrians	Bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, crashes, and volumes Guidebook for Developing Pedestrian and Bicycle Performance Measures http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/publications/performance_measures_guidebook/ Pedestrian and Bicycle Transportation along Existing Roads—Active Trans Priority Tool Guidebook http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/172459.aspx
Capital Improvement	Information from capital improvement plans to inform evaluation methods
Economic Development	Data from existing economic development goals, plans, and policies to inform criteria and methods Performance measures or metrics, and analytical methods to evaluate economic vitality or competitiveness
Freight	Freight-specific input for alternative comparison
Greenhouse Gas Emissions	This Key Decision is not associated with the Application.
Health in Transportation	Health stakeholder and community input Health-related evaluation criteria, methods, and measures used in other planning processes or studies affecting the project area Available data and tools to support effective health-related analysis Assessment of data analysis capabilities, either in-house or via health partners
Human Environment and Communities	Data to evaluate human environment impacts Specific evaluation criteria related to equity, quality of life, sustainability, livability, and environmental justice impacts
Land Use	Local land use master/comprehensive plans, and data from land use and land planning Indicators for induced development or travel demand
Linking Planning and Operations	TSMO metrics and measures
Natural Environment and Implementing Eco Logical	Specific evaluation criteria, methods, and measures that have been identified for the natural environment
Performance Measures	Information about tools, technology, data adequacy, and capabilities available to support potential performance and evaluation of the alternatives Monitoring results, as applicable
Planning and Environment Linkages	PEL study evaluation criteria, methods, and measures
Public Private Partnerships	Financial evaluation criteria for projects developed through a P3 Cost/benefits and risks data
Public Transportation	Public transportation networks and public transportation usage
Safety	Safety criteria, methods, and measures
Stakeholder Collaboration	Stakeholder perspectives and interests
Transportation Conformity	Guidance for hot-spot analysis (see Examples for Conformity Practices in the Application Reference Links)
Visioning and Transportation	Results from visioning processes relevant to the study area

Links to Applications

The interaction between transportation decision making and other planning processes will ensure that important values and goals outside the transportation process are recognized and considered. Although Public Transportation is not represented by a PlanWorks Application, the information provided may be useful in a collaborative transportation process.

Application	Description
Bicycles and Pedestrians	Confirm evaluation criteria is adequate to measure the potential impacts and benefits of bicycle and pedestrian improvements.
Capital Improvement	Adapt or supplement evaluation criteria for alternative consideration, especially when the topic has not been considered in the past. Health in Transportation and Greenhouse Gas Emissions are examples of external processes that may be unusual to evaluate with respect to transportation.
Economic Development	Confirm evaluation criteria, methods, and measures are adequate to analyze the project’s economic development benefits and impacts. There may be overlap in evaluation criteria with those addressing Human Environment and Communities, Natural Environment and Implementing Eco-Logical, Land Use, and Freight goals.
Freight	The criteria must be robust enough to evaluate freight benefits. Performance Measures and targets from a state freight plan should be considered in developing these criteria. The criteria, methods, and measures will also need to be able to assess freight interactions with other priorities, such as Human Environment and Communities, Bicycles and Pedestrians, Safety, and Linking Planning and Operations.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions	This Key Decision is not associated with the Application.
Health in Transportation	Confirm that the evaluation criteria, methods, and measures selected will adequately assess the health impacts of the project. Comparison with other Applications such as Bicycles and Pedestrians, Freight, Human Environment and Communities, Land Use, and Safety may be helpful.
Human Environment and Communities	Evaluation criteria must be developed addressing all interests in the study area, and therefore any Application topic may apply. For specific relevance to the human environment, consider Health in Transportation, Bicycles and Pedestrians, and Public Transportation.
Land Use	The criteria, methods, measures, and supporting data must be robust enough to capture the full range of implications related to land use. Other applications that might contribute to this full understanding include Bicycles and Pedestrians, Economic Development, Freight, GHG Emissions, Human Environment and Communities, Natural Environment and Implementing Eco-Logical, and Transportation Conformity. Also consider Public Transportation. Look for input from Visioning and Transportation or Stakeholder Collaboration to help decide among the different options for criteria, methods, and measures.
Linking Planning and Operations	TSMO strategies may be relevant to potential solutions and reflect Performance Measures related to mobility, reliability, system performance, and others.
Natural Environment and Implementing Eco Logical	Confirm that evaluation criteria, methods, and performance measures identified in ecological planning (including any associated with a crediting strategy) have been considered.
Performance Measures	Select specific measures to evaluate the performance of alternatives. All Applications should be considered based on the project purpose and need.
Planning and Environment Linkages	Ensure that evaluation criteria, methods, and measures from any PEL study are considered.
Public Private Partnerships	Evaluation criteria for comparison of alternatives must be sufficiently detailed to identify all impacts and risks associated with P3 options. Specifically consider Land Use, Economic Development, Human Environment and Communities, and Public Transportation.
Public Transportation	Confirm evaluation criteria is adequate to measure the potential impacts and benefits of public transportation improvements.
Safety	Safety plans may inform the criteria that is appropriate to evaluate each alternative with respect to safety. Performance Measures, particularly related to the state and National Goals, are important to consider.
Stakeholder Collaboration	Stakeholder perspectives can provide a more comprehensive evaluation of project alternative impacts, benefits, and costs by identifying connections to other community issues such as Health or Economic Development.
Transportation Conformity	Confirm evaluation criteria, methods and measures are adequate to analyze the project’s impact on air quality conformity. There may be overlap in evaluation criteria for conformity analysis and those addressing Human Environment and Communities, Nature Environment and Implementing Eco-Logical, and Land Use goals.
Visioning and Transportation	Evaluation criteria must be developed addressing all interests in the study area, and therefore any Application topic may apply. For specific relevance to visioning, consider the Land Use, Economic Development, Human Environment and Communities, and Nature Environment and Implementing Eco-Logical Applications.

Examples

In - depth case studies of successful practices in collaborative decision making were used to develop the Decision Guide.Links in this table point to a specific paragraph or section of a case study that supports a Key Decision. It is not necessary to read through an entire case study to find the example; however, full versions are available in the Library.

PlanWorks Case Study Examples:
US 75 North Central Expressway env-5

Other Examples:
None.