Consideration of Social, Economic, and Environmental Factors
In addition to holding public hearings, Congress, in 1950 and 1956, required that consideration be given to the economic effects of routes bypassing or going through urban areas. In the 1968 highway legislation, it specified that social and environmental effects of such projects be considered and be consistent with “the goals and objectives of such urban planning as have been promulgated by the community.”
Meanwhile, BPR recognized pressures for increased evaluation of alternative alinements during the route location process and for more attention to social, economic, and environmental factors. Accordingly, in 1964 the Bureau issued a directive emphasizing the need for full consideration of all reasonable alternative alinements and listing approximately 20 social, economic, and environmental factors to be studied and evaluated, if applicable, in the process of investigating alternatives.
A downtown mini-mall joint development project in Twin Falls, Idaho.
Interdisciplinary Studies and Joint Development Perspective
As the importance of environmental considerations became increasingly apparent during the 1960’s, BPR was receptive to innovative approaches to achieve greater compatibility between highways and adjacent land uses. These efforts have taken several forms:
- Special studies of critical segments of highways, usually on the Interstate System, have been undertaken by interdisciplinary groups, sometimes referred to as design concept teams. Such studies focused not only on the design of the highway, but also on the planning or replanning of the adjacent areas.[N 1] This type of study is still being made, but the trend has been towards the utilization of in-house professional skills or established planning agencies rather than the creation of a one-time team of outside experts.
- ↑ An excellent discussion on this subject is presented in Urban Highway Design Teams, published by the Highway Users Federation for Safety and Mobility.
