35
PEL Implementation
Resource Guide
may include failure to meet Purpose & Need,
impacts to community and cultural resources,
impacts to the natural environment, and
conflicts with community goals and values.
Before an alternative is judged unreasonable,
a rationale needs to be presented to the public
and agencies for their review and comments.
Both individual project concepts and overall
plan scenarios can be judged as unreasonable.
If sufficiently documented, unreasonable
solutions eliminated in planning need to be
presented as part of the scoping package,
be briefly discussed in the environmental
document and the long-range planning analysis,
and be incorporated by reference in NEPA. The
key to this linkage is the documentation that is
provided to support the decision to eliminate an
alternative.
Linking the Adopted Plan
With Selected Alternatives
Another obvious linkage would be to tie the
adopted transportation plan to the selection of
alternatives under NEPA (see Exhibit K).
What Is the Linkage?
Comprehensive documentation of the process used
and major decisions made during long-range trans-
portation planning.
Why Make the Linkage?
By federal law, metropolitan planning organization
boards are the ones to approve a fiscally constrained
long-range plan. This plan reflects the community's
consensus about the physical characteristics and
service levels to be provided by the transportation
system of the future. Beyond federal requirements,
however, this long-range plan provides significant
insight into the community's vision for the physical
size, future land use, modes, and level of service for
the future transportation system.
In air quality nonattainment and maintenance
areas, it will also show the anticipated timing of
major improvements recommended in the plan.
The adopted local plan should be the starting point
for anyone interested in linking planning to the
environment at the project level (for transportation
plans) or for other planning processes (open space,
conservation, watershed, etc).
What to Consider?
Providing user friendly long-range planning
documentation in sufficient detail that will allow
planners and engineers to use long-range planning
NEP
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Exhibit K