INTEGRATING THE PRIORITY CORRIDOR INTO THE NEPA PROCESS: THE I-69 EXPERIENCE

The I-69 Corridor, extending from the Lower Rio Grande Valley through Houston, Shreveport, Memphis, and Indianapolis to Port Huron, Michigan, was included by ISTEA in the National Highway System as a transportation corridor of national significance. Since the early 1990s, a series of transportation planning studies have been conducted to evaluate the overall feasibility of constructing this new interstate facility. This paper explores the methodology developed to evaluate the environmental and social implications of improving a 1,600-mile corridor, including the national coordination efforts within and among the various resource agencies, states, metropolitan planning organizations, and other stakeholders. The study methodology established and tested for I-69 will serve as a benchmark, as other High Priority Corridors across the U.S. transition from the transportation feasibility to the location and environmental evaluation stage.