Environmental Research Needs in Transportation: Report of a Conference

ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH NEEDS IN TRANSPORTATION: REPORT OF A CONFERENCE, WASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 21-23, 2002: Every 5 years the Transportation Research Board conducts a Transportation Environmental Research Needs Conference to select and draft top-priority statements of environmental research needs. This report contains the proceedings of the most recent of these conferences which was held in March 2002, this time with a multimodal perspective. In the proceedings are top research needs identified at the conference, along with background papers. These are organized into chapters for each of the following 15 topic areas: Air Quality; Community Impacts, Environmental Justice, and Public Involvement; Context-Sensitive Design, Including Aesthetics and Visual Quality; Cultural Resources; Energy and Alternative Fuels; Environmental Information Management; Environmental Streamlining and Stewardship; Integrated Environmental Decision Making; Land Use and Transportation; Noise; Sustainability, Including Climate Change: Cause and Effects; Transportation, Human Health, and Physical Activity; Waste Management and Environmental Management: Recycling, Waste, Pollution Prevention, Brownfields; Water Quality and Hydrology; and Wetlands, Wildlife, and Ecosystems.

This report is published to assist those involved with government, university, and other research programs in selecting research projects that will have the greatest utility for the transportation environmental community. WETLANDS, WILDLIFE, AND ECOSYSTEMS: RESOURCE PAPER: This resource paper summarizes the continuing research needs in the area of wetlands, wildlife, and ecosystems in their relationship to transportation activities. Although there has been a great deal of progress, these needs continue to be similar to those expressed at the last Environmental Research Needs in Transportation Conference in 1996. Adequate impact evaluation tools still need development and testing on transportation projects. Techniques to measure the quality of ecosystems and associated biota need to be developed and tested. The effectiveness of mitigation or compensation for impacts should be evaluated. Furthermore, the effectiveness of programmatic approaches in accomplishing environmental and regulatory goals, while showing great promise, still requires thorough evaluation.