ABSTRACT
Transportation projects are often associated with other development projects that expand or improve the built environment. The US National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) provides an effective model for scoping, assessing, and mitigating transportation projects and their impacts. In fact, there are numerous laws in other nations that are similar in NEPA's intent and implementation. At the United States Federal level, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) was created by NEPA to draft regulations, oversee the process, and publish annual reports on the national's environmental conditions and processes. The Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) stipulates that all projects must be compared to a series of quantifiable review thresholds, which will determine what level of MEPA review is required, if at all. The comparison to these thresholds may result in finding that no MEPA review is required, that an Environmental Notification Form (ENF) and some MEPA review is required, or that an ENF and a mandatory Environmental Impact Report (EIR) is necessary.
