Assessing the Role of Remote Sensing Information for Streamlining Environmental Assessment in Transportation

The U.S. Department of Transportation seeks to determine if remote sensing can contribute to streamlining the environmental assessment process. Environmental protection is accomplished through Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) that seek to prevent adverse environmental effects from taking place rather than mitigating problems caused by past activities or practices. EISs are conducted in the context of an overall decision-making process that is inexact and fluid leaving significant latitude for the application of remote sensing as a supplemental or alternative source of environmental information associated with transportation development. Of the 25 environmental impact areas the FHWA recommends addressing in an EIS, 13 are good candidates for remote sensing in some capacity. In many cases, current "off-the-shelf" techniques can be utilized directly. In other cases, the assessment requirements dictate using newer data sets for which experience is limited or for which image processing techniques need to be refined or developed. However, these issues do not appear to be insurmountable obstacles. Perhaps the greatest challenge is in obtaining broad utilization and acceptance of remotely sensed imagery. Skepticism, unfamiliarity, cost, capital equipment and human resource needs are just of few of the anticipated impediments that must be addressed before broad utilization and acceptance can be achieved. In some cases, these impediments are real and substantial, but in many instances, they are fairly trivial. The NCRST-E is appropriately postured to provide the research and development and outreach services needed to raise remote sensing to the forefront of environmental assessment in transportation. The lessons learned over the last fifteen years with the implementation of GIS and GPS technology in transportation planning and engineering should be applied to remote sensing technology as well. A broad array of demonstration projects are needed, not simply to provide examples of remote sensing capabilities, but to engage the stakeholders in the process, assess the costs and benefits relative to performance indicators, and demonstrate overall the intrinsic value in accepting change.