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You are here:Planning & Environment →Environmental Analysis & Review →Outstanding Achievement Award for Excellence in Environmental Document Preparation → 2008 Outstanding Achievement Awards for Excellence in Environmental Document Preparation
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2008 Outstanding Achievement Awards for Excellence in Environmental Document Preparation
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FTA announced the 2008 award selections at the APTA Annual Meeting in October
In the inaugural year in presenting the Outstanding Achievement Awards for Excellence in Environmental Document Preparation, FTA identified three environmental documents that best demonstrated some of the elements of FTA’s environmental best practices. Assisted by a panel of outside experts, FTA selected the following environmental documents for quality of their content, format, and user friendliness:
- Regional Transportation District’s (RTD) Gold Line Corridor Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Denver, Colorado;
- Maryland Transit Administration’s (MTA) Redline Corridor Transit Study Alternatives Analysis/Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Baltimore, Maryland; and
- City of Bozeman’s Downtown Intermodal Facility Environmental Assessment, Bozeman, Montana.
FTA applauds the efforts of these transit agencies to incorporate features in their documents that make them reader friendly and keep the scope of analysis focused. FTA is looking forward to continuing our work with the transit industry to produce environmental documents that truly a benefit to the public and decision-makers in terms on their content, utility and practicality as described in FTA’s “Keys to Efficient Development of Useful Environmental Documents.”
Gold Line Corridor Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Denver, Colorado
RTD is proposing to provide commuter rail service between the Denver Union Station and Wheat Ridge, Colorado. FTA's environmental document reviewers commended the Gold Line Draft Environmental Impact Statement for its use of:
- Clear prose,
- Excellent executive summary that features a reader-friendly question and answer format, and
- Effective use of graphics throughout the document.
Also notable is that each chapter begins with an introduction explaining its purpose, content, and how the information is organized among alternatives. The document text is concise and well organized with numerous, clear headings. Each analytical section includes a summary of results, an explanation on why the resource topic is important to consider, clearly identifies proposed mitigation, and scales the level of detail to the anticipated magnitude of impacts.
Red Line Corridor Transit Study Alternative Analysis and Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Baltimore, Maryland
MTA is proposing to extend light rail transit 14 miles from the town of Woodlawn in Baltimore County to the Johns Hopkins Bayview Campus in Baltimore City. FTA's environmental document reviews commended MTA's Red Line Alternative Analysis/Draft Environmental Impact Statement for:
The document's use of clear writing,
- Sound organization and analysis, and
- Effective use of graphics (example).
MTA also successfully experimented with formatting to promote user friendliness with techniques such as:
- Publishing the document on tabloid (11X17 inch paper) so that detailed maps. Photographs, charts, and text fit on the same page (example);
- Using summary boxes at the start of each environmental analysis section (example); and
- Placing more detailed information in a second volume and organizing that information by neighborhood or geographic area (Example, Geographic Area 3: From US 40 at Cooks Lane to Longwood Street) than by resource topic making this document more relevant to the citizens of Baltimore.
Bozeman Downtown Intermodal Facility Environmental Assessment, Bozeman, Montana
The City of Bozeman prepared an environmental assessment for an intermodal facility in the downtown area that includes a public parking structure and a transit hub for a fixed-route bus system. FTA’s environmental document reviewers appreciated the document’s use of:
- Clear writing,
- Application of scoping to ensure that analyses were consistent with the expected magnitude of impacts, and
- Manageable size of the document. (The main body text is only 26 pages).
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