This document outlines a course on Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) in transportation planning, environmental analysis, and design. The course is taught by two instructors with over 50 years of combined experience in transportation. It aims to describe CSS principles and how to apply them. Topics covered include the CSS process, environmental analysis, successful project characteristics, and integrating transportation projects into their physical and social contexts. Students will participate in class exercises and discussions to learn how CSS has been implemented on real projects.

1. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Context Sensitive Solutions
in Transportation Planning,
Environmental Analysis and Design
CVEN 689
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2. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Course Instructors Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• Brian Bochner, P.E.
– Texas Transportation Institute
– Senior Research Engineer
– Over 35 years experience in transportation planning
and engineering
• Beverly Storey, R.L.A.
– Texas Transportation Institute
– Associate Research Scientist
– Manager of Environmental Management Program
– Over 16 years experience in roadside design and
transportation research
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3. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Learning Outcomes Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• Describe the purpose and benefits of
Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS)
• Provide an understanding of CSS principles
• Provide knowledge of when and how to use CSS
• Identify and describe how CSS relates to the
transportation planning process
• See how CSS works in actual practice
• Identify how local, state, and federal agencies can
work together to effectively deliver CSS
• Provide encouragement to practice CSS
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4. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Course Format Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• Lecture and discussion
• Text-book readings
• Review of relevant literature
• Class exercises to illustrate specific
principles
• Class participation
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5. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Course Content Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• CSS Defined
• Project Development Process
• Environmental Analysis
• Characteristics of Successful Projects
• Physical Context
• Social Context
• Mock CSS Workshop
• Multimodal Applications
• Place-making with CSS
• Developing Supportive Design
• CSS in Construction, Operations and Maintenance
• CSS Project Approval Process
• Using CSS in Professional Practice
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6. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
What is CSS? Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
"CSS is a collaborative, interdisciplinary
approach that involves all stakeholders
to develop a transportation facility
that fits its physical setting and
reserves scenic, aesthetic, historic and
environmental resources, while
maintaining safety and mobility. "
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/context/
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7. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Core Principles Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• Transportation Stakeholders
– CSS streamlines program delivery
• Community Stakeholders
– CSS improves the community’s
quality of life
• Common to all Stakeholders
– CSS forms partnerships out of
competing interests
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8. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Context Integration Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• Deals with "context" both as a constraint
and an opportunity
• Requires sensitivity to the total context
• Federal executive orders, statutes, and
regulations mandate protection of many
contextual resource elements impacted by
transportation projects
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9. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Context Integration Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
I-70 Glenwood Canyon, Colorado
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10. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Context Integration Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Minnesota
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11. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Context Integration Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
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12. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Context Integration Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
The Lincoln Homestead State Park Bridge – Springfield, Kentucky
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13. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Context Integration Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Main Street Square - Downtown Houston
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14. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Context Integration Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Legacy Town Center Main Street, Plano
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15. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
What is your favorite driving experience?
Why?
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16. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
CSS Milestones Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• 1969 -The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
• 1991- Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act
(ISTEA)
– transportation projects built in historic or scenic value areas
be designed to appropriate standards or to adopt
mitigations to minimize impacts on those resources
– strengthened requirements for public participation
• 1998 - Thinking Beyond the Pavement: National
Workshop on Integrating Highway
Development with Communities and the
Environment While Maintaining Safety and
Performance
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17. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
The Beginning Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Thinking Beyond the Pavement
• 1998 workshop introduces the term
Context Sensitive Design
• Results in the selection of six pilot states
and agencies
– Connecticut DOT
– Kentucky DOT
– Maryland DOT
– Minnesota DOT
– Utah DOT
– FHWA Eastern Federal Lands
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18. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
CSS Milestones Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• 2003 – Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
Performance Plan objective to incorporate context
sensitive solutions into planning and project development
in all 50 states by 2007
• 2004 - FHWA and partners launch CSS website
http://www.contextsensitivesolutions.org/
• 2005 - Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation
Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) promotes
consideration of CSS core principles in planning and project
development processes
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19. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Federal Policy Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
FHWA Administrator Mary Peters in a January
24, 2002 memo challenged her agency . . .
“A transportation facility is an integral part of the
community’s fabric and it can help define the
character of a community or it can destroy it.”
“We should seek to institutionalize the principles of
CSD with the same commitment that drove the
implementation of the Interstate Highway System.”
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20. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
NEPA Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
– requires federal agencies to integrate
environmental values into their decision-making
processes by considering the environmental
impacts of their proposed actions and
reasonable alternatives to those actions
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21. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
The Challenges Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Safety
Physical Cost
Character
Environmental
Multimodal Project Quality
Considerations
Design
Historical and Scenic
Characteristics Accessibility
Capacity Natural & Human Environment
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22. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Before CSS Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
American Road Building Eras
• The 19th Century
– Grassroots
– Multimodal
• The 20th Century
– Scientific
– Standardization
• The 21st Century
– Synthesis of 19th and 20th Centuries
– Context Sensitive Solutions
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23. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Status quo ante Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
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24. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
CSS Synonyms Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• Thinking Beyond the Pavement
• Context Sensitive Design
• Community Sensitive Design
• Customer Sensitive Solutions
• Common Sense Solutions
• Place-making
• Engineering Judgment
• Right-Sizing Projects
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25. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Resources Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• AASHTO, Guide for Achieving Flexibility in Highway Design, July 2004
• AASHTO, A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets, 2004
• FHWA, Flexibility in Highway Design, 1997
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/flex/
• ITE, Context Sensitive Solutions in Designing Major Urban Thoroughfares in
Walkable Communities, March 2006 http://www.ite.org/bookstore/RP036.pdf
• NCHRP 480, A Guide to Best Practices for Achieving Context Sensitive Solutions,
2002. http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_rpt_480.pdf
• MassHighways, Project Development and Design Guide, 2006
http://www.mhd.state.ma.us/default.asp?pgid=content/designGuide&sid=about
• DVRPC, Smart Transportation Guidebook, 2008
http://www.dvrpc.org/asp/pubs/reports/08030A.pdf
• TxDOT Landscape and Aesthetic Design Manual, 2007
http://onlinemanuals.txdot.gov/txdotmanuals/lad/index.htm
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26. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Assignment Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
Next Class Session
– What is your favorite
street and why?
– Document with
pictures, map, etc.
– List design elements
– Will share next class
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27. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
My Favorite Street Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• Characteristics
– Architecture
– History
– Scale
– Urban vs. rural
– Active vs. serene
– Streetscape/landscape
– People
– View
– Street/road configuration
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28. Context Sensitive Solutions in Transportation
Reading Assignment Planning, Environmental Analysis and Design
• Chapter 1 - Context Sensitive Solutions in Designing
Major Urban Thoroughfares in Walkable Communities,
March 2006
http://www.ite.org/bookstore/RP036.pdf
• Section A NCHRP 480, A Guide to Best Practices for
Achieving Context Sensitive Solutions, 2002
http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_r
pt_480.pdf
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