HDOT Climate Resilience Action Plan | May 2021

» Allowing those having similar interests in environmental issues and concerns to work collaboratively among themselves and with others in the DOT as a unitary identity » Depending on the responsibilities given the unit, linking environmental policies and goals with implementation responsibilities; for example, two of the state DOT examples below have placed operating authority for certain programs in the environmental unit (e.g., roadside vegetation/landscape and erosion control/stormwater management) » (Potentially) establishing an environmental staff career path for those interested in environmental issues and concerns, assuming such a career path is developed as part of the creation of the unit As indicated above, the advantages of establishing a separate environmental unit in a DOT will depend on the roles given to this unit. Experiences from other DOTs, however, show that the success of an environmental unit will largely depend on how it links to, and is integrated with, other project development processes in the agency. What needs to be avoided is the perception (or reality) of a separate environmental unit being viewed by others in the Department as an obstacle to achieving departmental goals. C.4 CHANGING CONTEXTS FOR TRANSPORTATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS An increasing policy concern for environmental issues goes beyond the usual state DOT environmental function of making sure environmental impact documents meet Federal and, where appropriate, state laws and regulations. Environmental offices provide a range of capabilities to state DOTs and many have been given the lead role for climate adaptation studies. This range of interests is well illustrated by a recent survey of state DOT planning directors. A 2020 survey of the directors for a National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) project focused on future staff needs for transportation planners to identify the policy and technical analysis trends they anticipated for state DOTs over the next five years. The intent of the survey was to link these trends to needed staff capabilities for today’s state DOT transportation planning units. The key question with respect to these trends asked planning directors to rate expected changes in terms of how important they are for defining what transportation planners will need to know five years from now. The results of this survey question (shown in Table C-1) are quite telling in terms of the likely future issues that will face state DOTs. Two of the top three issues identified by transportation planning directors related to environmental and livability factors: 1. Increasing public/policy focus on transportation as related to livability and community quality (e.g., increasing the importance of Active Transportation, including pedestrianization, bicycle and scooter accommodation, and micro transit 2. Increasing concern for changing environmental conditions and impacts, including climate change This latter issue, “Increasing concern for changing environmental conditions and impacts” also received the second-most “important or very important” number of votes, while “changes in transportation technologies (e.g., vehicle types, networks, communications, automated/ connected, etc.” received themost votes. State DOT planning directors clearly view the environmental and community context for transportation decision making as being some of the most important issues transportation officials are likely to face soon.

HAWAI‘ I HIGHWAYS | CLIMATE ADAPTATION ACTION PLAN ( C-3 )