About the Project Development Module
The Project Development module provides criteria to self-evaluate the development of a specific project; it includes project-specific planning, design, and construction.
Project Development is the second step in the lifecycle of a transportation project. This is where specific projects conceptualized and programmed in the System Planning processes are planned, designed and constructed.
The Project Development module includes criteria that span the entire project development process from early planning, alternatives analysis, environmental documentation, preliminary and final design, and construction. Although the criteria span all phases of project development, including construction activities, the criteria are written such that the owner has control over the decisions and actions necessary to meet all of the criteria. For the construction phase, this can typically be done by incorporating elements in the Project plans and specifications. The Project Development criteria are generally organized from early planning, through design, and then construction; however, the last four criteria (all introduced in Version 1.2) are not organized as such.
The PD module contains 33 criteria listed below, organized into 6 fixed and 1 custom scorecard. While these criteria are all focused on project development, FHWA recognizes that not all criteria are applicable to all projects so different combinations of these criteria were used to create scorecards for different types of projects in both rural and urban settings (discussed below).
Project Development Criteria
Planning and Design Criteria
PD-01: Economic Analyses
PD-02: Life-Cycle Cost Analyses
PD-03: Context Sensitive Project Development
PD-04: Highway and Traffic Safety
PD-05: Educational Outreach
PD-06: Tracking Environmental Commitments
PD-07: Habitat Restoration
PD-08: Stormwater
PD-09: Ecological Connectivity
PD-10: Pedestrian Access
PD-11: Bicycle Access
PD-12: Transit & HOV Access
PD-13: Freight Mobility
PD-14: ITS for System Operations
PD-15: Historical, Archaeological, and Cultural Preservation
PD-16: Scenic, Natural, or Recreational Qualities
PD-17: Energy Efficiency
PD-18: Site Vegetation
PD-19: Reduce and Reuse Materials
PD-20: Recycle Materials
PD-21: Earthwork Balance
PD-22: Long-Life Pavement Design
PD-23: Reduced Energy and Emissions in Pavement Materials
PD-24: Permeable Pavement
Construction Criteria
PD-25: Construction Environmental Training
PD-26: Construction Equipment Emission Reduction
PD-27: Construction Noise Mitigation
PD-28: Construction Quality Control Plan
PD-29: Construction Waste Management
Criteria Introduced in Version 1.2 (in addition to PD-24)
PD-30: Low Impact Development
PD-31: Infrastructure Resiliency in Planning and Design
PD-32: Light Pollution
PD-33: Noise Abatement
Scorecards
INVEST has 7 project scorecards available for the evaluation of projects based on both the type of project (paving, basic, extended, or scenic/recreational) and the location (rural or urban). The website is designed to enable selection of the project type and location which pre-identifies applicable criteria for consideration. For projects that don’t fit well into these categories, there is also a custom scorecard option. The following describes each of the scorecards.
- Paving – for projects that are devoted exclusively to pavement preservation; restoration projects that extend the service life of existing facilities and enhance safety; or pavement restoration projects that restore pavement structure, ride quality, and spot safety. Use this scorecard for paving projects in both rural and urban locations.
- Basic Rural – for small, rural reconstruction or rural bridge replacement projects that do not expand capacity of the roadway.
- Basic Urban – for small urban reconstruction or urban bridge replacement projects that do not expand capacity of the roadway.
- Extended Rural – for rural projects for a new roadway facility; structure projects where nothing of its type currently exists; and major reconstruction projects that add travel lanes to an existing roadway or bridge.
- Extended Urban – for urban projects for a new roadway facility; structure projects where nothing of its type currently exists; and major reconstruction projects that add travel lanes to an existing roadway or bridge.
- Recreational and Scenic Scorecard – for projects on recreational and scenic roads such as those led by Federal Lands.
- Custom – for projects that do not fit any of the pre-defined scorecard options, the Custom Scorecard will allow the user to develop a unique set of criteria that is most appropriate for the project being evaluated. The Custom Scorecard starts with a core set of 11 that must be included as part of the score. There are not achievement levels associated with the custom scorecard.
Generally, the distinction between rural and urban should be made by an agency’s planning department. If needed, a project could use the 2010 Census Urban and Rural Classification to determine the “urban” classification. Each PD scorecard includes a different combination of the twenty-nine PD criteria based on the type project. The custom scorecard includes nineteen core criteria plus user-selected criteria to make a custom self-evaluation for projects that don’t fit well into the five defined scorecards. The following table shows the criteria included in each of the PD scorecards.
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