AASHTO Technical Committee on Environmental Design Report to AASHTO Subcommittee on Design Indianapolis, IndianaJuly 21, 2009

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AASHTO Technical Committeeon Environmental
DesignReport to AASHTO Subcommittee on
DesignIndianapolis, Indiana July 21, 2009

• Prepared by
• Keith Robinson, ASLA
• Principal Landscape Architect
• California Department of Transportation
• Division of Design
• Sacramento, CA
• Presented by
• Keith Harrison, P.E.
• Safety/Geometric Design Engineer
• Federal Highway Administration
• Resource Center
• San Francisco, CA

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Technical Committee on Environmental Design

• Chair Tim Stark, Wyoming (N)
• Vice-Chair Dan Stewart, Pennsylvania (D)
• Secretary Keith Harrison, FHWA, San Francisco
• AASHTO Liaison Jim McDonnell

Region 1 Maryland Karen Coffman(L) New York
Philip Bell(L) Vermont John
Narowski(N) Region 2 Florida
Jeff Caster(L) South Carolina Mark
Lester(D) West Virginia Greg Akers(N) 1
VACANCY
Region 3 Indiana Louis Feagans(D) Iowa
Mark Kerper(N) 2 VACANCIES Region
4 California Keith Robinson(L) Hawaii
Chris Dacus(L) Idaho Greg Vitley(N)
Utah Becky Stromness(N)
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Technical Committee on Environmental Design

• Objective and Scope
• Review, develop, and recommend AASHTO positions
  on environmental design issues for the AASHTO
  Highway Subcommittee on Design, as required or
  assigned.

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Technical Committee on Environmental Design

• Continuing coordination with the following
  committees
• Hydrology and Hydraulics.
• AASHTOs Context Sensitive Solutions/Design Task
  Force (or subsequent committee).
• TRB Task Forces on CSS and Visualization in
  Transportation and the Committee on Landscape
  and Environmental Design.

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Technical Committee on Environmental Design

• Publication ResponsibilityThe technical
  committee is responsible for developing and
  updating the following documents
• Guide on Evaluation and Abatement of Traffic
  Noise
• Guide to Wetland Mitigation Issues for
  Transportation Designers
• Policy on Land Use and Source Control Aspects of
  Traffic Noise Attenuation
• Visualization in Transportation
• Guide for Transportation Landscape and
  Environmental Design

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Technical Committee on Environmental Design

• Guide on Evaluation and
• Abatement of Traffic Noise (1993)
• 2004 review determined this to be current and
  relevant.
• Recommend placing this document on the AASHTO web
  site.

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Technical Committee on Environmental Design

• Guide to Wetland Mitigation Issues for
  Transportation Designers (1996)
• 2004 review determined this to be current.
• Significant recent changes in wetland mitigation
  requirements warrants an evaluation of this
  document to be considered for a complete TCED
  review.

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Technical Committee on Environmental Design

• Policy on Land Use and Source Control Aspects of
  Traffic Noise Attenuation, 1980
• TCED review in 2004 determined this document to
  be obsolete.
• TCED recommends it be REMOVED from the AASHTO web
  listing of TCED publications.

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Technical Committee on Environmental Design

• Visualization in Transportation, 2003
• A web-based publication.
• Content is current.
• Updated once since the original 2002 web posting.

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Technical Committee on Environmental Design

• Guide for Transportation Landscape and
  Environmental Design (1991)
• Currently being updated as a NCHRP project.
• Project developed and sponsored by Transportation
  Research Board AFB-40 -Committee on Landscape and
  Environmental Design
• Research contractors effort will complete soon(?)

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Updating the 1991 Guide for Transportation
Landscape Environmental Design

• TRB AFB-40
• Volunteer effort, 2000 2004
• Proved to be overwhelming task
• NCHRP Project 15-33
• Work begun March 2006
• Contentious project from the beginning
• AASHTO TCED
• First look early 2008 not well received
• Final draft much improved
• Combined comments to contractor April 2009

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Need for Update

• TRB and AASHTO
• identified need and
• goals for the
• update.

• Obsolete content
• Not used by transportation professionals

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New Title and Scope

• Creating Complete Roadway Corridors
• Landscape Architecture and Roadway Design
• Development of Corridor Scale Concepts
• Focus on Integration of Roads, Transit,
• Bicycle and Pedestrian Modes
• Furtherance of CSS Concept implementation
• Not intended to be a design manual
• Does not create standards

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Content Comparison

• Old
• Introduction of Landscape
• and Environmental Design
• in Transportation
• Landscape and Environmental
• Elements in Highway Design
• Environmental Design
• Landscape and Geometric
• Design
• Construction Considerations in
• Design
• Roadside Management
• Highway Related Areas
• Landscape Considerations for
• Airports, Mass Transit Facilities,
• Ports and Railroads
• Multiple-Use/Joint Development

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Content Comparison

• New
• Complete Corridors and
• Evolution of Process
• Guiding principles of
• Landscape and
• Environmental Design
• Defining Corridor Types
• Elements in the Roadway
• Landscape
• Creating Corridors
• Corridor Examples
• Practice Examples
• Links

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Creating Complete Roadway Corridors

• Chapter 1 - Complete Corridors and the Evolution
  of Process
• History of road development
• Interstate Era
• Federal Policy evolution

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Creating Complete Roadway Corridors

• Chapter 2 - Guiding principles of Landscape and
  Environmental Design
• Environmental
• Context
• Civic Design

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Creating Complete Roadway Corridors

• Chapter 3 - Defining Corridor Types

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Creating Complete Roadway Corridors

• Chapter 4 - Elements in the Roadway Landscape
• Roadway
• Roadway Structures
• Roadside
• Roadside Structures
• Outside the Right of Way

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Creating Complete Roadway Corridors

• Ch 4 - Roadside
• Grading
• Stormwater
• Vegetation
• Vegetation management
• Soil
• Pavement edge
• Rest areas
• Scenic overlooks

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Creating Complete Roadway Corridors

• Ch 4 - Outside the R/W
• Land Use
• Access Management
• Visual Impact Assessment
• Scenic Byways
• Outdoor Advertising
• Park and Ride
• Wireless Communication Towers

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Creating Complete Roadway Corridors

• Chapter 5 - Creating Corridors
• Urban Core
• Urban
• Suburban
• Exurban
• Rural
• Remote

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Creating Complete Roadway Corridors

• Chapter 6 - Corridor Examples
• Urban Core
• Urban
• Suburban
• Exurban
• Rural
• Remote

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Creating Complete Roadway Corridors

• Chapter 7 - Practice Examples
• Summary
• Benefits
• Background
• Process
• Implementation
• Resources

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Creating Complete Roadway Corridors

• Chapter 8 Links
• Resources
• Bibliography
• Glossary
• etc

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Creating Complete Roadway Corridors

• Status
• NCHRP Panel evaluation/balloting
• TRBAFB-40 evaluation
• AASHTO TCED balloting/recommendation
• AASHTO SCOD recommendation

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Technical Committee on Environmental Design

• Work Underway/Planned for 2009
• Coordinating with the NCHRP project panel
  updating the 1991 Guide for Transportation
  Landscape and Environmental Design.
• Proposed activities
• Web-based guidance on new methods for retaining
  and using storm water runoff in ROW (jointly with
  TCHH)
• AASHTOs CSS work and publications
• TRB Task Forces on CSS and Visualization

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Technical Committee on Environmental Design

• Publications (current or proposed) that the TCED
  committee is interested in participating in
  updating/developing, now or in the future,
  include
• On-Site Drainage Retention, not Conveyance
  (currently proposed as a new topic)
• Developing and Retaining an Effective CSS Program
  (currently proposed as a new topic)

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Technical Committee on Environmental Design

• 5-Year Goals
• Retain multi-disciplinary membership
• Gain exception from SCOH/SCOD rule which limits
  eligible Chairs of Technical Committees
• Fill remaining vacancies
• Gain approval for 1 additional Region 4 member
• Share CSS activities
• Publication updates
• 2nd request to place pocket-sized 40-page 1993
  Guide on Evaluation and Abatement of Traffic
  Noise on the AASHTO Web site. We have determined
  the guidance to still be current, but few ask for
  it in printed version.

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Questions?