5.3 General Environmental Guidance

A TxDOT environmental clearance and compliance with TxDOT’s environmental review process is
required
for the following categories of projects (refer to 43 TAC 2.3):
  • A federally funded transportation project; or
  • Any portion of a state transportation project that will take place on the state highway system or other real property owned by the department.
Environmental clearance is required before federal funding is authorized and before a project can go to letting.
Common projects that do
not require
 a TxDOT environmental clearance and are not subjected to TXDOT’s environmental review process include:
  • Local government or private entity projects that do not take place on the state highway system or other property owned by TxDOT but will be funded by TxDOT with state funds, with no FHWA funding or approval;
  • TxDOT actions that are not transportation projects (e.g., new TxDOT office building), with no FHWA funding or approval;
  • TxDOT maintenance programs and projects covered by the April 2011 TxDOT Maintenance Environmental Assessment, with no FHWA funding or approval;
  • Projects in state parks that are on a road that is not listed on the state highway system, but is owned and operated by the TPWD, with no FHWA funding or approval (i.e., “Parks and Wildlife Road” projects);
  • Governor’s Community Achievement Awards that are transportation projects and that will not take place on the state highway system or other TxDOT-owned property, with no FHWA funding or approval;
  • Governor’s Community Achievement Awards that are not transportation projects, with no FHWA funding or approval;
  • FTA projects, with no FHWA funding or approval (these are subject to FTA’s NEPA process); and
  • Issuance of driveway permit and construction of a driveway (not associated with a transportation project), with no FHWA funding or approval; and 100% privately funded access improvement projects (i.e., turn lane, acceleration or deceleration lane, traffic signal, or other project of which the sole purpose is to facilitate access to or from a privately owned driveway or privately owned roadway, such as a shopping mall or apartment complex), with no FHWA funding or approval.
TxDOT uses a database system known as
Environmental Compliance and Oversight System (ECOS)
 to manage the NEPA process for TxDOT transportation projects, as defined in 43 TAC 2.5. The primary functions of ECOS are to:
  • Develop a project work plan for performing the activities needed to environmentally clear a transportation project;
  • Manage and keep track of the workflow for those activities; and
  • Preserve a record of the completion and outcomes of those activities.
The following references should be used as guidance for TxDOT’s environmental review process for transportation projects:
  • Coordination:
  •  District environmental staff
  • Available training:
  •  ENV211 – ECOS for Environmental Consultants and Local Government Representatives
  •  ENV216 – Overview of TxDOT’s Environmental Review Process for Engineers, Planners, and Others
  •  Environmental Management System Training Matrix