Phase I of a transportation study is the planning phase. Phase I includes the following:
- Scoping (inviting public and private agencies to identify alternatives, impacts, and issues)
- Conduct public involvement activities through the project process, activities include:
- Holding Public Information Meetings
- Forming and meeting with Community Advisory Groups composed of local residents
- Creating newsletters
- Meeting with special interest groups such as the Farm Bureaus and Highway Departments
- Holding Public Hearings
- Develop and evaluate a range of alternatives
- Develop preliminary alternatives
- Narrow down alternatives through a series of evaluations
- Adjust alternatives to minimize impacts
- Identify a Preferred Alternative
- Complete preliminary engineering on Preferred Alternative
- Conduct environmental studies
- Field inventories to identify protected resources
- Identify and evaluate the impacts of the alternatives on the natural and social environment, including communities, homes, businesses, wetlands, air quality, noise, historic sites, agriculture, and others
- Develop mitigation plan for impacts
- Coordinate with state and federal resource agencies including:
- Illinois Department of Natural Resources
- Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
- Illinois Department of Agriculture
- Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
- United States Army Corps of Engineers
- United States Environmental Protection Agency
- United States Fish & Wildlife Service
- Conduct special studies including
- Bridge inspection reports
- Hydraulic surveys
- Safety analysis
- Document findings in the Draft Environmental Impacts Statement (DEIS) and Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS)