Developing an Asset Management Tool to Collect and Track Commitments on Environmental Mitigation Features

Wisconsin has constructed many environmental mitigation projects in conjunction with transportation projects under the National Environmental Policy Act. These projects offset or replace certain environmental function(s) lost as a result of a transportation project. Examples include storm water management facilities, wetland replacements, stream restorations, reforestation, construction of sound walls, replacement of parklands, and wildlife crossing structures. For environmental mitigation projects to provide the long-term functionality intended when they were first constructed, they must be properly maintained and, when necessary, rehabilitated or reconstructed. These environmental mitigation features should be considered as assets, similar to other transportation facilities. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) identified the need to track these selected features in the overall scheme of project development and ongoing maintenance. This paper explores the current state of environmental mitigation project activities, discusses the literature on existing environmental inventory and asset management programs, presents an inventory of selected environmental mitigation features for Wisconsin, and develops a tool to track commitments. The tool was designed to assist WisDOT in monitoring the long-term performance of mitigation features. The research approaches used to develop the tracking tool, the list of priority features, and the inventory included interviews with WisDOT and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources staff, a review of WisDOT's environmental records—such as environmental impact studies and environmental assessment documents—and a literature survey covering best practices for environmental tracking and asset management systems being used by other state agencies.