Online review tools mean better outcomes for infrastructure
Weighty environmental review processes often bog down critical infrastructure projects for years. Laynee Jones, associate vice president for transportation, and Harrison Wadsworth IV, vice president of government relations, look at how regulatory and digital advances are speeding things up.
Despite clear public interest in speeding the delivery of infrastructure improvements in the United States, it can take as many as 4½ years on average to receive environmental approvals that clear the way for major federal projects.
The Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act (IIJA) establishes an approach to reduce these delays, and other permitting reform efforts are being pursued by government to deliver needed highway, rail, water, new energy and utility projects more quickly. At the same time, new cloud-based, interactive digital platforms like AECOM’s PlanEngage can be influential to help reduce by half the cumulative review time and improve transparency and public engagement. In fact, lawmakers in Congress are considering policies to encourage the use of digital tools in the review process.
Making regulatory documents more accessible
While the review requirements set out in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) are critical to protect communities and habitat, a combination of factors over time has combined to extend the environmental review process – leading to costly delays and even dooming worthy projects. Environmental Impact Statements that were as once as short as 10 pages now average 600 pages, plus appendices that typically exceed 1,000 pages. Understaffed regulatory agencies often working across multiple jurisdictions and juggling input from the public, consultants and other stakeholders can bog down under the sheer weight of the review process.
Online digital platforms like PlanEngage essentially make NEPA documents more accessible, expanding stakeholder engagement and transparency, while enabling interactivity and edits in real time between regulatory agencies and the public that can speed up reviews.
“Delivering an ambitious infrastructure program requires a new approach – one that not only promotes engagement but also decreases the time required to make decisions on transportation projects that increase accessibility for all while decreasing our carbon footprint. Online, interactive digital solutions like PlanEngage will be essential to deliver these projects on task and on time with better outcomes for all.”
-AECOM
How PlanEngage made collaboration easier in Arizona
This was the case in Arizona where PlanEngage was first used by the Arizona Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) during review of a 280-mile interstate highway segment between Nogales and Wickenburg. Instead of navigating dense, static, two-dimensional PDF documents, the platform allowed users to search headings and subheadings through a navigation bar and provide input. Readers could pop out graphics, see photos and visualizations in a separate window on their devices, and provide input.
In addition to promoting more efficient reviews, online digital platforms allow for better collaboration between agencies that can identify and resolve conflicts earlier in the process, which also reduces the number of formal comments on the draft EIS. In the case of Arizona’s I-11 expansion, it also unlocked new opportunities.
Arizona officials said the results achieved through the interactive process will guide their efforts on future studies.
With as much as $1.2 trillion in new federal infrastructure spending hitting the market, and greater demand by the public for input and more equitable ways to deliver it, the timing is right for increased uptake of online digital platforms. In a process where debate is limited to formal written submissions or public hearings, interactive, mobile-phone friendly documents and engagement, can draw higher levels of interest, reach a broader audience and allow for a wider diversity of voices in real time.
What’s more, officials say, is that better public understanding of projects leads to more substantive comments, less ambiguity and fewer delays or challenges related to not being able to find information in a timely way.
“The interactive EIS was a first for ADOT [Arizona Department of Transportation] and the State of Arizona, and it was a huge accomplishment for the I-11 study team,” said. “It allowed ADOT and FHWA to explore a virtual method for virtual public involvement while providing tools … to help the public fully understand the final Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement document. The success of the interactive EIS and the number of views it has received has clearly demonstrated its value to ADOT and the necessity to implement this kind of interactive tool for other studies.’’
Steven Olmsted, Arizona Department of Transportation program delivery manager
Reducing costs, speeding up delivery
The core goals of environmental review and public participation remain as important as ever in the review process. Delivering an ambitious infrastructure program requires a new approach that aligns with the original intent of NEPA requirements and helps get projects off the drawing board.
A 2015 analysis prepared by Common Good, a nonpartisan reform coalition, found that a six-year delay in starting construction on public projects cost the nation nearly $4 trillion, a sum far in excess of the amount needed to modernize America’s infrastructure. Today’s inflationary economy has already begun eating into the spending power created by IIJA and client project decision-making.
Regulators and clients alike can play a role in encouraging innovation and moving from the approach of previous generations for environmental reviews to an interactive, cloud-based platform approach appropriate for 21st century infrastructure. The outcomes can lead to better projects delivered faster and more economically, while ensuring the environmental protections that keep our communities safe and thriving.