Proceedings of the
Transportation Research Board
2005 Joint Summer Meeting

Introduction

The New Mexico Department of Transportation, with the assistance of the SRI Foundation, sponsored the 2005 Transportation Research Board (TRB) summer meeting of the ADC10 Committee on Environmental Analysis in Transportation, the ADC50 Committee on Historic and Archaeological Preservation in Transportation, and the ABE80 Committee on Native American Transportation Issues. This conference brought together over 200 transportation and environmental professionals from around the country to review and critique past national efforts involving environmental streamlining and stewardship. The benefits and problems associated with these efforts were examined from the perspective of Tribes, the public, and environmental and transportation professionals. Presenters and attendees included key staff from Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) headquarters, state FWHA division offices, state Departments of Transportation (DOT) environmental and design offices, Tribes, Federal and state environmental resource agencies, non-profit environmental organizations, and private sector firms. During the conference, there were many opportunities, both structured and informal, for discussions and networking about environmental streamlining and stewardship.

The conference format differed somewhat from past TRB summer meetings. The first day of the conference began with a two-part plenary session. First, six plenary speakers addressed the conference theme, presenting their responses to the following questions: What are streamlining and stewardship? Have we really streamlined projects and programs, and have we become better stewards? How do we know when we have done streamlining and stewardship? What are the practical, realistic outcomes of streamlining and stewardship? The plenary speakers were:

• Alan Downer, Navajo Nation
• Don Klima, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
• Wayne Kober, Wayne W. Kober, Inc.
• William Malley, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, L.L.P.
• Michael Replogle, Environmental Defense
• Lamar Smith, Federal Highway Administration, Office of Project Development and Environmental Review

The second part of the plenary session showcased four key projects and programs from around the country that exemplify the successes and challenges of stewardship and streamlining. The plenary session was followed in the afternoon by the three committees' sessions.

Day two of the conference began with a joint session of the three committees. The subject of this session was tribal consultation in the context of the National Environmental Policy Act and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. After this session, conference participants broke into small groups. Each group, under the direction of a trained facilitator, discussed the conference theme by addressing the following questions:

Question #1: In the ideal world of transportation decision making and environmental compliance, what would streamlining and stewardship look like, and what would it accomplish?

Question #2: What are the gaps between the ideal of streamlining and stewardship and the current reality, and what are the impediments to achieving the ideal?

Question #3: What tools and strategies can we use to help us achieve streamlining and stewardship and overcome these impediments? How can TRB help (through research or a study)?

On the morning of the third and last day of the conference, all participants reconvened, and each breakout group presented a brief report on their group's discussions and recommendations. This was followed by a time for general comments and discussion from the audience. As a final wrap-up, the plenary session speakers presented their views and opinions about what they heard during the sessions and small group discussions, ending with their recommendations on where to go from here.

The conference proceedings are presented in five sections. Please see the table of contents for a listing and description of each section. Section One includes the presentations from both Part 1 and Part 2 of the Plenary Session. Section Two contains presentations from the individual committee sessions: the Native American Transportation Issues Committee, the Environmental Analysis in Transportation Committee, and the Historic and
Archaeological Preservation in Transportation Committee. Section Three consists of papers from the joint session of the three committees. The presentations are generally in PowerPoint, while some are PDF files or Microsoft Word documents. A link to a presentation is indicated by an underline. If there is no link, then the presentation did not include a written paper or PowerPoint presentation. In Section Four are the notes from the facilitated group discussions. Section Five presents the conference's Wrap-up Session. The latter includes notes from the audience discussion and the plenary speakers' recommendations on where to go from here.

We wish to thank and acknowledge the following individuals who helped in organizing the 2005 Summer TRB conference. ¡Gracias a todos!

New Mexico Department of Transportation
Kathryn Kretz and Steve Reed headed the New Mexico Department of Transportation (MDOT) conference team. Thanks Kathryn and Steve for all your efforts! The NMDOT team members included:

Shannen Barela
Debbie Bauman
Judith Duran
Blake Roxlau
Janet Spivey
Tom Teegarden
Colleen Vaughn
Rick Wessel

Members of the ABE80, ADC10 and ADC50 TRB Committees
Thanks for helping organize the conference sessions!

Margaret Buss, Caltrans
Ron DeNadai, Edwards and Kelcey
Ron Hall, Tribal Technical Assistance Program, Colorado State University
Mark Kross, Missouri Department of Transportation
Reid Nelson, Navajo Nation
Tony Opperman, Virginia Department of Transportation

CDR Associates
CDR Associates of Boulder, Colorado developed the format for the breakout group discussions, facilitated these discussions, and also recorded and transcribed all of the notes from the group discussions and the conference wrap-up session. Á Muchisimas gracias!

Louise Smart
Julie McKay
Jonathan Bartsch

Conference Proceedings
Environmental Stewardship and Streamlining: Fact or Fiction

Section One: Plenary Session
Plenary Session • Part 1

Plenary session speakers addressed the conference theme, presenting their responses to the following questions: What are streamlining and stewardship? Have we really streamlined projects and programs, and have we become better stewards? How do we know when we have done streamlining and stewardship? What are the practical, realistic outcomes of streamlining and stewardship?

•	Alan Downer, Navajo Nation
•	Don Klima, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
•	Wayne Kober, Wayne W. Kober, Inc
•	William Malley (pdf 7.7 MB), Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, L.L.P.
•	Michael Replogle (pdf 896 KB), Environmental Defense
•	Lamar Smith, (pdf 112 KB) notes (pdf 128 KB) Federal Highway Administration, Office of Project Development and Environmental Review

Plenary Session - Part 2

•	"Maryland ICC Project: Elements of Streamlining Success," (pdf 5.9 MB) Megan Stanley, PB Consult Inc.
•	"Translating Section 106: Building Consensus among Multiple Reasonable Parties For the Doyle Drive Replacement Project in the Presidio, San Francisco National Historic Landmark District," (pdf 8 MB) Elizabeth McKee, California Department of Transportation
•	"Oregon Statewide Bridge Delivery Program: Streamlined Processes and Sustainable Results," (pdf 4.5 MB) Jeff Heilman, Parametrix, Inc. and H.A. Gard, Oregon DOT

Section Two: Committee Breakout Sessions
Native American Transportation Issues Committee (ABE80)

•	"Overview of Environmental Streamlining and the Role of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation," (pdf 4.6 MB) Carol Legard, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
•	"The Ties that Bind: Pennsylvania Efforts to Build Relationships with Tribes," (pdf 2.7 MB) Deborah Suciu-Smith, FHWA Pennsylvania Division and Catherine Spohn, Pennsylvania DOT
•	"'Walking Together' Can Mean Stopping a Project: How the Washington State Department of Transportation and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe Managed a Decision to Stop a Major Project," Frances Charles, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe; Colleen Jollie, Washington State DOT; Allyson Brooks, Washington State Historic Preservation Officer; and Trent deBoer, Washington State DOT
•	"Transportation Issues of Indian Country: The California Experience," Joseph Meyer, Caltrans Native American Advisory Committee

Environmental Analysis in Transportation Committee (ADC10)

•	"Transportation Permit Streamlining at Washington State DOT," Carrie Berry, Washington State DOT
•	"An Environmental Streamlining Success Today and a Building Block for Tomorrow: Louisiana 1 Improvements Project," (pdf 1.3 MB) Michele Deshotels, Louisiana DOTD and Chris Gesing, Michael Baker Jr., Inc.
•	"Section 4(f): Live, Local and Late Breaking!," (pdf 3.1 MB) Dave Gamble, FHWA
•	"Streamlining the Runway 17-35 Extension EIS Process at the Philadelphia International Airport, " (pdf 1.5 MB) Frank Bracaglia, VHB
•	"Merging CSS and Streamlining on US 285, Colorado," (pdf 1.4 MB) Gina McAfee, Carter & Burgess
•	"Pikes Peak COG, Regional Cumulative Impacts Study," (pdf 1.1 MB) Katiann Wong-Murillo, FHWA
•	"Environmental Streamlining on the STEP UP Project," (pdf 1.3 MB) Tracey MacDonald, Carter & Burgess and Suzette Thieman, North Front Range MPO, Fort Collins

Historic and Archaeological Preservation in Transportation Committee (ADC50)

•	Programmatic Agreements Panel Discussion:

	•	"The Washington SHPO's Views of Washington FHWA/DOT's Programmatic Agreement," Allyson Brooks, Washington State Historic Preservation Officer
	•	"Whereases and Therefores: Streamlining Section 106 on Oregon Department of Transportation Projects," Robert Hadlow, Oregon DOT
	•	"The Minor Projects Programmatic Agreement: Where It's Been and Where It's Going," Joseph Baker and Jonathan Daily, Pennsylvania DOT and Mark Shaffer, Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission
	•	"The Idaho PA: A Successful Work in Progress," Dan Gard, Idaho DOT
	•	"Virginia Since 1999," Antony Opperman, Virginia DOT
	•	"California Dreamin': What We Wanted and What We Got," (pdf 880 KB) Margaret Buss, Caltrans
	•	"Turf Wars: Highways, Public Lands, and Interagency Agreements," Julie Francis, Wyoming DOT

•	Federal Highways Administration Update, MaryAnn Naber, Federal Preservation Officer
•	"HAER Historic Parks Roads and Parkways Recording Project," (pdf 29.3 MB) Christopher Marston, National Park Service
•	Technology and Streamlining

	•	"North Carolina Department of Transportation Archaeological Predictive Model: Field Verification and Implementation," Matt Wilkerson, North Carolina DOT; Scott Madry, Environmental Services, Inc.; and Benjamin Resnick, GAI Consultants, Inc.
	•	"After the Launch: The Curious History, Productive Present and Brave New Future of the Pennsylvania CRGIS," Joseph Baker, Pennsylvania DOT
	•	"Past, Project and Future: The Baltimore Transit Study's Use of GIS for Project Streamlining and Stewardship," Henry Ward, Parsons Brinkerhoff and Barbara Hsiao Silber, McCormick Taylor, Inc.

 

Section Three: Joint ABE80, ADC10, and ADC50 Session
"Tribal Consultation, the National Environmental Policy Act, and Section 106 of the
National Historic Preservation Act"

	•	"Programmatic Agreements and Tribal Section 106 Consultation: Some Oklahoma Observations," (pdf 56 KB) John Hartley, Oklahoma DOT
	•	"Working with State Departments of Transportation on Navajo Land: A Tribal Perspective on Cultural Resource Management and Planning Issues," Ronald Maldonado, Navajo Nation
	•	"Tribal Consultation Texas Style," (pdf 1016 KB) Owen Lindauer, FHWA and Jim Soctomah, Passamaquoddy and Narragansett Tribes
	•	"A Florida Perspective on Native American Consultation," (pdf 1.3 MB) Kathleen Hoffman, Janus Research
	•	"Native American Coordination and Evaluating Cultural Resources," (pdf 5.6 MB) George Ballo, Florida DOT

Section Four: Facilitated Group Discussions

Conference participants broke out into groups to discuss the conference theme, using information, ideas, projects, etc. discussed in earlier sessions, and their own experiences. Each group worked on defining what the goals and outcomes of streamlining and stewardship should be. These goals and outcomes need to be practical, reasonably attainable, and easily understandable by all. Groups also discussed practical ways to move streamlining and stewardship toward fulfilling these goals. Click here for notes from the group discussions.

Section Five: Conference Wrap-up Session

Brief presentations/reports by breakout discussion groups.

General comments/discussion from audience.

Plenary session speakers presented their views and opinions about what they heard during the sessions and small group discussions, ending with recommendations on where to go from here. Click here for notes from the audience discussion and the plenary speakers' recommendations.

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