The Antiquities Code of Texas (ACT) and the Health and Safety Code and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) establish the environmental compliance obligations regarding archeological sites and cemeteries.

Transportation projects must comply with federal regulations governing the method and requirements for protecting and managing many biological resources. ENV - Natural Resource Management Section performs the following functions:

ENV recommends conducting a Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Analysis for any EIS that has a workplan in ECOS approved, or Notice of Intent (NOI) issued, on or after January 2, 2024. For EAs, ENV recommends using an ENV prepared Statewide Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Technical Report. ENV does not have specific recommendations for CEs.

Federal policy is rapidly changing; ENV encourages contacting ENV staff for the latest available guidance at the preliminary stages of project development. Future policy may require more or different analyses. Contact ENV for templates and example disclosure statements.

Community impacts include Environmental Justice (EJ), Limited English Proficiency (LEP) and Title VI.

The goal of the community impacts assessment process is to examine how TxDOT’s projects will permanently affect the communities. This assessment examines displacements, changes to access and travel patterns, and changes to community cohesion to determine if it will be affected after the project is complete.

To ensure compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the Executive Order on Environmental Justice, projects are examined to determine if they will unduly burden minority and/or low-income populations. Additionally, this assessment ensures that populations that do not speak English fluently have an equal opportunity to participate in the public involvement process.

Hazardous materials may be encountered on practically any transportation project. Additionally, hazardous material sources can be found in existing, adjacent, and proposed ROW. Consequently, the potential for hazardous materials should be assessed as early as possible when developing transportation plans or during project programming and development.

Hazardous materials/waste sites can pose a myriad of legal, regulatory, financial and technical problems to the department. TxDOT becomes exposed to substantial liability when it purchases contaminated parcels of land or if it owned property when waste was disposed of there (either by past agency practices, by third-party illegal disposal practices or by the activities of tenants). Under several federal and state statutes, claims can be made against the department for a variety of cleanup costs, as well as for personal or property damages. In addition to these costs, the additional time delay that results from cleaning up a contaminated site can add significantly to overall projects costs.

TxDOT conducts Initial Site Assessment (ISA) to identify potential contamination, waste, or other hazardous materials related issues for TxDOT construction and maintenance projects.

The requirements for Section 106 of the NHPA and the ACT are codified in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations and the Texas Natural Resources Code, but the work to satisfy these requirements is conducted under the Section 106 Programmatic Agreement (PA) or Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Texas Historical Commission (THC). As the PA and MOU are deliberately parallel, the TxDOT review process satisfies all requirements of both the PA and MOU.

See for discussion on these properties.

A traffic noise analysis is required for certain types of roadway projects, such as projects on new location or that add through-traffic lanes. A traffic noise analysis predicts existing and future traffic noise levels and determines if adjacent noise-sensitive land uses would be impacted by traffic noise. When traffic noise impacts are identified, noise abatement measures, such as sound walls, must be considered. If sound walls are determined to be feasible and reasonable, then noise abatement is incorporated into a project after detailed constructability analysis and public involvement.

Traffic noise compliance is governed by sections of NEPA that address the avoidance and mitigation of traffic noise impacts resulting from roadway projects and the Federal Aid Highway Act. This act mandates FHWA to develop and promulgate guidelines and standards for highway noise levels.

Refer to the TxDOT.gov Traffic Noise Toolkit webpage for more information and guidance on tools to prepare materials compliant with regulations.

See for discussion on Water Resources.