I am a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Planning and Environment Linkages practitioner for WSP in the U.S. as part of our firm’s planning team. We conduct and deliver environmental review studies for Federally funded transportation improvements.
My environmental resource specialties include highway traffic noise studies, community impacts, environmental justice and equity. Another is Section 4(f), which is a specific flavor of U.S. Department of Transportation environmental review that is focused on protections for public parks, recreation areas and refuges, plus historic areas.
I have been with WSP for three-and-a-half years, but I was a subconsultant to the firm for many years prior. I was the traffic noise lead for the Interstate 290 (I-290) Eisenhower Expressway Environmental Impact Study in Chicago, a WSP-led project for the Illinois Department of Transportation. We won the American Council of Engineering Companies-Illinois Honor Award for our work on the study, and we’ve won additional studies for the corridor going forward.
Valuing Community Care and Strong Partnerships
Our WSP Midwest planning, Transportation and Earth and Environment staff are exceptional in their fields and work to bring the right people to the right projects, both for our clients’ needs and for the career growth of our staff. We are dedicated to bringing value to our clients and communities with fresh, bold thinking.
Transportation should be available for everyone, and good transportation systems can be transformative. However, making change to the transportation system has potential to negatively affect people, communities and the environment.
Through implementing NEPA for Federally funded transportation projects, I uncover how transportation projects bring positive and negative effects to natural and human communities. I work with people to investigate effects and look for solutions or mitigation.
I’m grateful to have forged strong partnerships that allow me to continue winning and delivering top-notch environmental work.
Protecting People and Planet
Even the smallest transportation project can change someone’s quality of life or increase their safety, and it’s our responsibility to understand and incorporate the public’s needs and show that they’ve been heard. Empathy helps us better understand the perspective and needs of others to create effective transportation projects.
I love those connections we make as we work together to help communities solve problems, improve quality of life, and save lives. Transportation is for everyone, and people are affected differently by transportation decisions, which is why we listen and account for the many different voices in a community.
Sometimes, these residents had their neighborhood divided years ago by a transportation facility. We acknowledge these past community impacts made in the name of progress that perpetuated systems of injustice and inequality, and work to make things better.
Federal, state and local agencies with specific resource interests and jurisdictions are also involved when we study transportation improvements. We plan and report winter salt use for our roads with state environmental protection agencies, and how the salt use affects nearby receiving waterways. Park districts meet with us to review effects of designs near their parks and public lands. State and federal natural resource agencies protect threatened and endangered species when we propose mitigation for habitat removals and effects of continued prairie declines in the Midwest.
We develop transportation solutions with businesses concerned about visibility, effects of bypasses on downtown commercial districts, parking and efficient freight travel. The freight industry’s focus on efficiency leads them to the fastest and most navigable truck routes to their destination, but that can also result in negative community effects when more trucks routinely drive through neighborhoods not intended for freight traffic.
I had a recent project experience coordinating tribal monitoring for cultural resources data recovery for a transit project where I was grateful to work with several tribal officers who were transparent about their needs. The tribes were challenged by funding constraints, staff shortages and historic inequities, and were focused on protecting Tribal resources threatened by projects across the country while also preserving their history and working toward equity. Hearing the tribes’ priorities from their own words, not my interpretation of their position, was crucial.
That experience allowed me to balance the needs of our client’s project while respecting the needs of many tribes. I took that experience to subsequent projects, balancing our requirements under NEPA and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act with respecting tribal needs to honor and protect their history across many states.
WSP NEPA Services
WSP is in a strong position among U.S. NEPA transportation leaders. Along with our direct connections to Federal environmental transportation leaders, our contract with the government to deliver National Highway Institute courses alongside FHWA puts us in a leadership role with DOTs across the country.
In planning and environmental review, we combine future planning work into the proposed vision for a transportation corridor and consider future trends. This can be challenging under federal environmental policy, laws and regulations that are constantly changing, but also gives us more opportunity to create positive change through changing our systems and structures.
Our role as trusted advisors is crucial, and with the Council on Environmental Quality’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for NEPA Implementing Regulations Phase 2, we are on the cusp of influencing even more positive change through our transportation projects.
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