Land Development, Site Planning, & Design
- Route 17 Environmental Opportunities Assessment
the challenge To the west of New York City, Route 17 connects The Garden State Parkway, Interstate 80 and the New Jersey Turnpike. Route 17 is recognized as one of the most heavily traveled roads in New Jersey. The NJDOT needed a comprehensive cataloging of the social and environmental resources that could be affected by a roadway improvement. The biggest challenge was developing a screening tool that would be useful for the Department’s evaluation of the potential impacts caused by the many construction alternatives that were likely to be studied.
the interdisciplinary approach Building upon innovative strategies that produced advantageous results on other major transportation projects, the Bioengineering Group recommended collecting and categorizing the data in sections based on predominant land use patterns. Within each of these areas, further identification of individual resources allowed the designer to quickly assess the relative impacts of alternatives on specific communities along the corridor, giving the NJDOT a head start with identifying and implementing alternatives with least impacts.
In addition, recent Smart Growth and Context Sensitive Design initiatives at NJDOT suggested that the roadway had to be improved in a way to make it more sensitive to the community and environment. The Bioengineering Group recommended the NJDOT incorporate a broader evaluation of the remnant ecosystems within ½ mile of the roadway. By cataloging these areas, the NJDOT could identify locations where the mitigation investments not only met regulatory requirements but allowed reconnection and restoration of these ecosystem elements in a way that improved the abutting communities. Our planners applied urban forestry perspectives to identify linkages and pathways between remnant ecosystems, analyzing them through GIS to evaluate and demonstrate their relevance.
the results These tools, used during concept design, helped NJDOT integrate mitigation elements into the design that meet regulatory requirements. Additional input from The Bioengineering Group created a suite of creative and cost-effective design standards that resulted in better reception of the NJDOT project by all stakeholders involved. The project approval timeline was shortened, stakeholder trust and rapport were developed, and solutions were identified that could improve environmental conditions with little or no additional cost, all of which are expected to produce reduced construction costs.