New Approaches to Ecological Surveys, National Cooperative Highway Research Program. A Synthesis of Highway Practice

摘要

During all phases of the transportation planning, development, and operations process environmental data are needed. Whether the phase of planning involves long-range plans 20 years into the future, or day-to-day operations, information related to the environment is needed to prepare environmental documents, obtain permits, design and construct road improvements, mitigate or avoid impacts, monitor mitigation, and conduct maintenance activities. The objectives of this synthesis were to survey transportation and natural resource professionals familiar with transportation systems to identify ecological survey needs related to transportation activities and to identify technologies, techniques, and innovative methods to fulfill those needs. These technologies, techniques, and methods, collectively called new approaches, include data collection, its analysis and delivery, how it can be used in planning and operations, and cooperative working relations. The audience for this synthesis includes transportation professionals responsible for planning, designing, constructing, operating, and maintaining transportation projects and the road corridor in an environmentally and fiscally responsible manner, as well as professionals in natural resource agencies and other organizations who work with transportation professionals in departments of transportation (DOTs) on these issues. Environmental surveys in this synthesis are best described as ecological surveys; they do not consider archeological resources that are typically organized under environmental surveys. Ecological surveys taken as a whole convey a wide spectrum of information on the natural world from species to climate change.