Many state, county and municipal departments of transportation (DOTs) are spending significant amounts of financial resources on stormwater management; especially for the Municipal Separate Stormwater Sewer System (MS4) Permit requirements for post-construction best management practices. Is this really an environmentally and financially sound approach to protect water quality? Read More

Summary of the 2011 Transportation Research Board (TRB) Waste Management & Resource Efficiency Committee Workshop; “Sustainability & Liability in Transportation”

The Sustainability & Liability in Transportation Workshop was held in Portland, Oregon (hosted by the Oregon Department of Transportation) from July 25-27, 2011. There were a total of 37 presentations given by national and international transportation professionals during the first two days of the workshop. The third day involved a boat tour of the Portland Harbor Superfund Site. The workshop was well attended by representatives from state departments of transportation, the Federal Highway Administration and transportation consulting firms. Read More

Stormwater. Just the word “stormwater” can give construction project managers on transportation projects an ulcer and a bad attitude. The risk of non-compliances to federal, state and local environmental regulations or DOT agency directives and policies is real risk to the project manager whose main goal is finishing the construction project on time and within budget. Many times the project-level stormwater compliance management is seen by some DOT management as unnecessary and the construction and maintenance of best management practices (BMPs) as too costly. Some management do not understand the environmental regulations and say that stormwater programs such as the EPA-based Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) regulations do not apply to linear projects like transportation.     Read More