The intermediate planning process is intended to provide a better link between the Long-Range Plan and the Programming and Project Delivery Processes. This involves looking at areas and/or corridors in a broad sense to better understand the transportation needs from a system standpoint and to agree on a comprehensive scope and overall direction of the process. This process has been discussed throughout UDOT and has been modified to meet the needs of the regions as well as the programming and project delivery areas.

The benefits of the process include:

• Better project definition and implementation by defining the what, when & why including:
• Full range of opportunities and deficiencies
• Trigger points
• How projects fit within the larger context of corridor and system
• Improved internal and external process integration of the following areas:
• Long range planning
• Environmental
• Program areas
• Prioritization processes
• Transit develop program
• Active transportation
• Local government
• Right of way and development
• Planning-environmental linkages (“PEL”) that assist in:
• Defining planning goals and objectives to assist in defining the purpose and need for future project(s)
• Utilizing the planning process to evaluate alternatives and identify the unreasonable alternatives to move forward
• Forwarding suitable mitigation measures including programmatic approaches into the NEPA Process
• Increased value and cost effectiveness
• Identifying economies at the project implementation stage
• Streamlining the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
• Improve ability to capture opportunities and deficiencies to minimize re-do's
• Building the right project at the right time
• Outlining a consistent and repeatable process improves credibility
• Strategy driven decision making

The focus of the Area / Corridor Planning Process is to facilitate conversations to clearly understand the broad context of the area and the community values. This will better define the goals and the needs for transportation solutions that will ultimately be an asset to the community.

The Area / Corridor Planning Process was developed to allow for a high level as well as a detailed approach to corridor planning. The overall process has been broken into two sections to evaluate areas on a high level as well as a more detailed level. The graphic shown below briefly outlines the activities needed for both Area / Corridor Screening, or a high level look at a corridor as well as the Area / Corridor Detailed Study, which will review the information from the screening as well as identify solutions to move forward. This document outlines recommended actions, outcomes, deliverables, and questions for considerations for all of the activities. The screening and detailed study activities are better described below.

The first five activities in the process provide the opportunity to coordinate with internal team members and external stakeholder as appropriate, to take a high-level look at a corridor or area to understand the context and identify the goals of the area. These actions allow teams to better understand tasks to be completed moving forward, the area that should be considered for a study or multiple studies, and develop a more thorough scope for a detailed study.

The outcome of the screening may include a list of planning efforts or a corridor master plan. The master plan should include all actions the area of influence of the corridor. Some possible actions include recommendations for detailed study and plan development, completion of an environmental document or a list of smaller site-specific studies.

All information gathered from the corridor screening should be well documented and accessible for all studies and projects along the given corridor. This will provide background information and should outline additional data needs and questions to be answered.

The last eight tasks are structured to follow similar activities to past corridor studies, portions of the environmental process, and the concept planning process. These steps will include review of the Area / Corridor Screening documents to better outline the scope for the detailed study including the accessing additional data, further review of existing conditions, and review of the goals and objectives defined to better describe the needs. These documents may provide the information needed in the first few boxes. The screening may outline information that is missing that should be incorporated into the Area / Corridor Detailed Study. In either case, the initial activities should be reviewed and the screening information incorporated. The intent is to provide enough information about the corridor to determine how to move forward in the most efficient manner.

The coordination of processes is a critical element of effective planning. This is especially true when using the planning process to move into the NEPA process, or as mentioned above ‘ planning-environmental linkages (PEL). PEL involves adopting decisions made in the planning process and adopting and incorporating those decisions into the NEPA document. There are strict requirements that need to be met in the planning process for these decisions to be incorporated.

To better link the planning and environmental processes, each activity in the Area / Corridor Detailed Study notes as applicable the PEL requirements that are necessary in order for specific decisions to to be adopted into the NEPA process based on the Linking the Transportation Planning and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Processes. A legal summary of the PEL requirements provided by Perkins Cole LLP, June 17, 2016 outlines three methods to meet the PEL reuqirements. The PEL Application in the Area / Corridor Planning Process outlined in the document is based on the Appendix A method as outlined in the summary. A copy of this document is found in Appendix A.

For additional reference in meeting the NEPA requirements, refer to the UDOT Environmental Process Manual of Instruction and UDOT Environmental Document (EA/EIS) Process.

Coordination should take place with both the Planning and Environmental Departments when linking the planning and environmental processes.