Page 23 - Highway Engineering Handbook Building and Rehabilitating the Infrastructure

6 CHAPTER ONE

TABLE 1.1 FHWA Office of Planning, Environment, and Real Estate—Selected
Policy Memoranda

Issued date Subject
8/17/06 Guidance on 23 USC §328 Environmental Restoration and Pollution Abatement
7/31/06 Memorandum on Improvement of NEPA Documents
5/25/06 Highway Traffic Noise
4/4/06 Section 6004: State Assumption of Responsibility for Categorical Exclusions
3/29/06 Transportation Conformity Guidance for Qualitative Hot-Spot Analysis in PM2.5
and PM10 Nonattainment and Maintenance Areas
2/15/06 Release of FHWA Construction Noise Model (FHWA RCNM) Version 1.0
2/14/06 Interim Guidance for Implementing the Transportation Conformity Provisions in
the SAFETEA-LU
2/3/06 Interim Guidance for Air Toxic Analysis in NEPA Documents
1/13/06 Guidance for Applying the 4(f) Exemption for the Interstate Highway System
3/10/05 Federal-Aid Eligibility of Wetland and Natural Habitat Mitigation
4/28/99 Guidance on the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ)
Program under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21)
3/12/97 Eligibility of ISTEA Funds to Mitigate Historic Impacts to Wetlands
10/28/96 NEPA Requirements for Transportation Enhancement Activities
12/15/95 Memorandum of Understanding to Foster the Ecosystem Approach
12/13/95 Use of Private Wetland Mitigation Banks
10/11/95 Highway Noise—The Audible Landscape: A Manual for Highway Noise and
Land Use
7/25/95 Participation in Funding for Ecological Mitigation
7/5/95 Use of Private Wetland Mitigation Banks as Compensatory Mitigation for
Highway Project Impacts
6/12/95 Highway Traffic Noise Guidance and Policies and Written Noise Policies
2/3/95 Analyzing Exempt Projects in the Conformity Process
11/8/94 Federal Interagency Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Implementation
of the Endangered Species Act (ESA)
8/22/94 Interim Guidance of Applying Section 4(f) on Transportation Enhancement
Projects and National Recreational Trails Projects
4/19/94 Wetland Delineation and Mitigation

Additional guidance is provided in common law resulting from litigation concerning
environmental matters. Judicial review may result in clarification or invalidation of all or
parts of environmental regulation. There is an extensive body of law that has resulted from
such review.

1.3.1 The Environmental Impact Assessment Process
under NEPA

An outline of the steps in the NEPA process is presented in the following discussion and
illustrated in Fig. 1.1.
Determination of the Level of Documentation Needed to Comply with NEPA.
Highway projects are usually initiated by a state or local transportation agency. If it is
anticipated that a major federal action is required to implement a project, it must com-
ply with NEPA. Conversely, projects that do not require a major federal action do not
require review under NEPA. These minor actions include projects that are “categori-
cally excluded” from detailed review under NEPA and for which a minimal level of
environmental documentation is required. A list of categorical exclusions is provided