1 / 11

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.

dalmar
Download Presentation

Overview of Other Jurisdictional Research

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  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

More Related