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Overview of Other Jurisdictional Research

Overview of Other Jurisdictional Research. Systems to Incorporate Environmental Costs into Decision-Making TAC Workshop – September 29 th , 2010. Queensland, Australia Department of Transport & Main Roads.

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Overview of Other Jurisdictional Research

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  1. Overview of OtherJurisdictional Research Systems to Incorporate Environmental Costs into Decision-Making TAC Workshop – September 29th, 2010

  2. Queensland, AustraliaDepartment of Transport & Main Roads • Include environmental costs in decision-making, but cannot predict all environmental impacts that result when infrastructure is forced into our environmental systems • Advocating work on developing a consistent set of impact assumptions to be applied across the nation. Purpose would be to collect comparative and indicative data on resulting costs • Difficult to separate environmental design from engineering design. Design is design and good design is to be encouraged, regardless of the discipline driving it • Working on developing tools to apply a consistent approach to costing • Difficult to do comparative analysis of other countries as our soils, climate, water and biodiversity is all so different.

  3. U.S. DOT Research • Contacted TRB (SHRP), AASHTO (SCOE), and FHWA • There is no US document synthesizing the costs associated with environmental impact mitigation measures • There are no national standards for this type of cost accounting • There are several reports that address the topic and some states are spearheading this on their own • There is much interest in this topic in the U.S. due to increasing environmental requirements, escalating costs and limited budgets

  4. NCHRP – Costs Related to Compliance with Federal Environmental Laws - 2006 • Purpose of the study was to establish a comprehensive definition of state DOT’s environmental costs based on a sample of case studies • Environmental cost definition: compensatory & avoidance costs • Tracking environmental costs – benefits of doing so, when are costs incurred, what categories are measured, and how are they tracked • Findings: • State DOTs are investing more in environmental stewardships but its effect on project costs is unclear • Very few state DOTs currently measure environmental costs • Comprehensive estimates of environmental costs should include all aspects of project delivery • Not all environmental costs are easily identifiable • Practical constraints limit ability to track environmental costs • Environmental cost tracking is labor intensive, particularly at the outset but has many benefits.

  5. AASHTO Research: Improving Environmental Cost Estimates - 2008 • Objective to develop guidelines on methodologies for estimating environmental costs in transportation projects • Literature review; DOT surveys, telephone interviews • Conclusions and Recommendations: • Need for clearer understanding of purpose for determining environmental costs • Need for a sound basis for cost estimating • Agency-wide systems – limitations and opportunities • Cost data is a powerful but untapped tool • Finding a reason to do environmental cost estimating

  6. AASHTO Research: Guide to Estimating Environmental Costs - 2008 • Developed a guide for DOT project managers in estimating environmental costs for transportation projects • Guide is based on best project management practices used in industry: • Fundamentals of cost estimating: types of costs, estimating principles, cost elements • Identifying and estimating environmental costs by project development phase • Tools for estimating, tracking and managing environmental costs • Cost risk management and implementation tools and processes

  7. FHWA – Environment and Asset Management - 2008 • Environmental protection and stewardship are major considerations in evaluating transportation investment • Understanding and incorporating projected costs and benefits of environmental activities is essential to accurately weigh investment tradeoffs • Principles of asset management are consistent with the best practices developed by transportation agencies to integrate environmental considerations into each phase of transportation planning and project development. • Need to explicitly integrate environmental info, data and activities into asset management initiatives and by reinforcing asset management principles in environmental activities.

  8. Tracking Environmental Mitigation Projects: Survey of Methods Used by DOTs - 2008 • WisDot conducted research with other DOTs to determine what asset management processes are in place for tracking design, construction and maintenance costs for environmental mitigation • Found that several states have developed successful tracking mechanisms (i.e. databases, forms, lists) to ensure environmental commitments are met. • Some states have developed mechanisms to track costs associated with environmental mitigation

  9. Tracking Environmental Mitigation Projects: Survey of Methods Used by DOTs - 2008 • Examples: • Arizona – limited but expanding capacity to track some environmental costs incurred during project delivery • Kentucky – introduced tracking codes to improve agency’s environmental cost tracking capabilities • Maryland – staff time and preconstruction consultant activities are tracked using Financial Management Information System • Montana – tracks the costs of its mitigation projects. Cost items include evaluation, engineering/design, right-of-way (property) • Oregon – elements of cost tracking methodology include planning costs, preliminary engineering/environmtnal, ROW, design, construction and maintenance costs

  10. Conclusion • Most jurisdictions do not specifically track environmental costs related to highway construction • Costs are typically treated as overhead or rolled up into project construction costs • As a result, routine efforts to estimate or unbundle planning and environmental costs are difficult if not impossible. • No comprehensive database uniformly addressing the full extent of environmental costs – thus ability to perform statistical costing does not exist

  11. Bibliography - Resources • http://environment.transportation.org/pdf/proj_delivery_stream/nchrp25-25task%2039report.pdf • http://environment.transportation.org/pdf/proj_delivery_stream/nchrp25-25task%2039guidance.pdf • http://nepa.fhwa.dot.gov/ReNEPA/ReNepa.nsf/All+Documents/AD3B902A775A2FCB85257219000DF2F1/$FILE/FINALAppA.TransTechReport10.23.06.doc • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/archive/NotesDocs/25-25(49)_FR.pdf • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/archive/NotesDocs/25-25(51)_FR.pdf • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/docs/NCHRP08-36(72)_FR.pdf • www.dot.wisconsin.gov/ibrary/reseach/docs/tsrs/tsrenvironmentalmitigation.pdf • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/archive/NotesDocs/20-24(54)_B_%20FR.pdf

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