Eight-Step Process for Assessing Indirect and Cumulative Impacts of Transportation Projects

In 1999 the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) established a joint-agency task force spearheaded by its project development and environmental analysis branch with the purpose of formulating a strategy to deal with indirect and cumulative impacts (ICI) of transportation projects. According to the Council of Environmental Quality, indirect effects are caused by the action, are later in time or farther removed in distance, but are still reasonably foreseeable. A cumulative impact is the impact on the environment that results from the incremental impact of the action when added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions regardless of what agency or person undertakes the action. The task force found that while there was ample evidence to support the need to develop guidance on ICI, there was not sufficient national or out-of-state experience available to guide ICI analyses in North Carolina. Responding to that need, NCDOT contracted with the Louis Berger Group to develop guidance materials on ICI policy analyses for its staff and stakeholders. The eight-step process for assessing indirect and cumulative impacts of transportation projects is described and summarized, and a case study of a proposed bridge replacement project in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, is provided.