Environmental retrofit for highways: making wildlife a priority

The environmental aspects of transportation projects have typically focused on the avoidance and minimization of impacts and compensatory mitigation for unavoidable impacts. Recently, progressive transportation agencies have been expanding beyond the primary focus of project effects and evolving toward a more thorough integration of environmental stewardship in their actions. Agencies are beginning to integrate environmental factors into transportation planning and are also providing environmental enhancements as part of projects when opportunities arise. Transportation agencies have traditionally prioritized their work to meet the typical infrastructure needs for addressing deficiencies and making improvements for safety, capacity, and system efficiency, as well as upgrading aging facilities. Significant environmental improvements can be reached using good stewardship practices in planned transportation projects. However, sometimes areas with ecological needs do not coincide with areas needing transportationinfrastructure improvement. How can transportation programs move beyond the project and permit perspective and work to address ongoing ecological issues and thus provide larger environmental gains? One approach is the Environmental Retrofit Program developed by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). This program is designed to identify environmental deficiencies within the highway system and address them both as parts of planned transportation projects and also as stand-alone environmental-retrofit projects. These standalone retrofit projects may be conducted not only where the transportation needs are currently satisfied, but where significant ecological impacts exist. The focus areas for this program are based on the ecological priorities, including fish-passage correction, stream-habitat restoration, and water-quality improvements. An example of the benefits of this program can be seen in fish passage retrofit activities. Culverts at road crossings that block fish movement are recognized as a significant conservation issue, particularly for anadromous salmonids, many of which are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). Since 1991, the Fish Passage Retrofit Program has been managed cooperatively between WSDOT and the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). Over 5,000 stream crossings have been inspected on the state highway system. As a result, over 800 culverts have been identified that block significant habitat upstream and are targeted for correction. Over $26 million has been invested in inventory, design, and construction for stand-alone retrofit projects that restore fish passage at 59 high-priority sites. As a result, access to over 400 linear miles of salmonid habitat, once blocked, has been improved. This presentation will discuss how the program operates, as well as specific examples of the projects that have been implemented. The main components for operating this program include: Definition of the problem and parameters; Field Inventory and survey; Statewide prioritization, based on ecological gain; Scoping of project corrections; Design development; Permitting; Construction; Monitoring; Research; and Coordination and partnerships The concepts of this program are now being expanded to address other types of aquatic-habitat issues though identification of what is termed chronic environmental deficiencies (CED) and stormwater treatment needs. Future applications of this program are being developed to address priorities for terrestrial habitat-connectivity improvement. This is a successful program with tangible benefits on the ground that demonstrates how transportation agencies can play a meaningful role in ecological-restoration efforts