This post is authored by Terry H. Klein, Executive Director of the SRI Foundation and Paul Graham, Senior Program Manager at Louis Berger U.S., Inc. 

We know how busy ACRA members are, but we really need your assistance and expertise in conducting this new National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) 25-25 project. This project, Task 116, is “Potential Section 106 Exempted Categories or Program Comments for Federal Highway Administration Projects: National Streamlining Opportunities.” (Please refer to the project webpage for more information.)

Task 116 examines how the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) have used program alternatives (pursuant to 36 CFR 800.14) to streamline and enhance their Section 106 programs and project delivery efforts. Another goal of this NCHRP study is to identify additional national-level program alternatives that FHWA, state DOTs, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) might be able to use to improve and expedite Section 106 compliance associated with transportation project delivery. These include, but are not limited to, Exempted Categories (36 CFR 800.14(c)) and Program Comments (36 CFR 800.14(e)). For more information on program alternatives, see https://www.achp.gov/program_alternatives.

We have developed a questionnaire that will help us document your experience in using current national program alternatives (access the questionnaire here). We are also interested in your views on possible additional national program alternatives that would streamline Section 106 reviews for transportation projects. If you want, you can insert your answers after each question, and then email us your responses. Or, we can set up a time to go through these questions over the phone in an interview. Whatever works best for you. If you want to submit a completed questionnaire or set up a time to go through the questions over the phone, please contact either project Principal Investigator: Paul Graham at pgraham@louisberger.com, or Terry Klein at tklein@srifoundation.org. If possible, we would like to receive a completed questionnaire by April 19, 2019. If you want to discuss the questionnaire over the phone in an interview, please let us know by April 12, 2019, and then we will set up a time to call you.

If you have any questions about this project or the questionnaire, do not hesitate to contact us. We greatly appreciate your assistance in this NCHRP study!