Using INVEST to Bridge Sustainability and Transportation Needs in the Denton Greenbelt

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Using INVEST to Bridge Sustainability and Transportation Needs in the Denton Greenbelt Using INVEST to Bridge Sustainability and Transportation Needs in the Denton Greenbelt INVEST Summary Report March 2019 North Central Texas Council of Governments March 2019 INVEST Summary Report Contents Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Key Outcomes ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 3 Objectives ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Background on Planning and Environment Linkages/Feasibility Studies ............................................................................................. 6 Work Performed ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Selection of Criteria ................................................................................................................................................................................ 9 Additional Work Performed .................................................................................................................................................................. 11 Stakeholder and Community Outreach ................................................................................................................................................ 11 Stakeholder Comments ........................................................................................................................................................................ 14 Feasibility Study .................................................................................................................................................................................... 14 Regional Ecosystem Framework Analysis ........................................................................................................................................... 17 Scoring ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 18 Analysis ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 31 Criteria Data Sources ............................................................................................................................................................................ 57 Costs and Benefits ................................................................................................................................................................................ 57 Next Steps ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 63 Lessons Learned ................................................................................................................................................................................... 64 Potential of the Project to Serve as National Case Study.................................................................................................................... 77 Recommendations ................................................................................................................................................................................... 78 Improving Use of the Tool .................................................................................................................................................................... 79 Improving Outcomes of the Tool ......................................................................................................................................................... 81 Appendices ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 82 1 March 2019 INVEST Summary Report Executive Summary 2 March 2019 INVEST Summary Report Extraordinary population growth in the Dallas-Fort Worth region can create sustainability challenges where the need for an expanded transportation system meets the need for conservation. The North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) sought to incorporate sustainability best practices into a feasibility study for the Denton Greenbelt Corridor. Staff modified System Planning for Regions and Project Development criteria from the Federal Highway Administration’s Infrastructure Voluntary Evaluation Sustainability Tool (INVEST) to develop sustainability criteria appropriate to corridor planning. These criteria were used to score an existing feasibility study and were incorporated as NCTCOG conducted the Denton Greenbelt Corridor Feasibility Study. NCTCOG’s corridor-scale menu could serve as a starting point for developing a new INVEST module. NCTCOG engaged stakeholders through meetings, a community festival, and a webinar as it developed the feasibility study. Key Outcomes Reduced silos: The project brought together NCTCOG staff with a range of expertise. This core group met 11 times. These interactions generated robust discussion that helped familiarize the group with each other’s responsibilities and perspectives. Corridor-scale sustainability module: NCTCOG’s Draft Feasibility Study Sustainability Menu provides 61 criteria in 18 categories. The menu also identifies corridor characteristics, such as “Natural or Scenic,” for which the criteria are most appropriate. Robust stakeholder outreach: Criteria in the Draft Feasibility Study Sustainability Menu led NCTCOG to implement stakeholder outreach with community members, conservationists, cities, users of park recreational facilities, active transportation advocates, transportation partners, federally recognized tribal nations, and resource and regulatory agencies. Their comments were included in the final feasibility study and should yield information that will inform and streamline future environmental studies. New feasibility study content: The draft criteria led NCTCOG to include in the Denton Greenbelt Corridor Feasibility Study content that had not been included in past feasibility studies. This included the use of a tool to identify priority ecological areas; identification of sites that could be affected by light pollution; the use of NCTCOG’s Environmental Justice Index; efforts to inform stakeholders how their comments would be used; data on factors affecting infrastructure resiliency; and the inclusion of information about the quality of data used in the feasibility study. Need to coordinate with transportation partners: NCTCOG identified a need to coordinate more closely with transportation partners, including the Texas Department of Transportation, to ensure the content of the feasibility studies informs future project planning and development. NCTCOG staff plan to meet with transportation partners to discuss this need. 3 March 2019 INVEST Summary Report Objectives 4 March 2019 INVEST Summary Report In 2016, stewards of a conserved greenbelt invited transportation planners to tour the land, which flanks the Elm Fork of the Trinity River in Denton, Texas. These community members had formed the nonprofit Greenbelt Alliance to protect the land and river, which are part of the second-most widely visited state park in Texas. The greenbelt is crossed by a two-lane road that provides access to hiking, biking, equestrian, and paddling trails. A historic bridge runs parallel to the road; deeper into the greenbelt, a dilapidated bridge rumored to have been traveled by Bonnie and Clyde hangs over the river. The park is quiet enough that the sounds of birds and insects dominate. Transportation plans recommended the two-lane road be expanded to a six-lane controlled-access facility with six lanes of frontage roads. The populations of Denton and Collin counties were expected to grow by 54 percent and 64 percent, respectively, by 2040. A study completed in 2011 indicated a need for additional transportation infrastructure to serve this growing population. This confluence of transportation and conservation needs made the proposed Denton Greenbelt Corridor an excellent candidate for a tool promoting sustainability best practices in transportation planning. The North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) Transportation Department which, along with the Regional Transportation Council, serves as the metropolitan planning organization for the Dallas-Fort Worth region, had already used the Infrastructure Voluntary Evaluation Sustainability Tool (INVEST) to improve the region’s long-range transportation plan. The tool resulted in the following additions to future plans’ content: • NCTCOG’s Regional Ecosystem Framework was better integrated into the plan. The Regional Ecosystem Framework promotes the use of an ecosystem approach to help restore and sustain the region’s ecological condition. • Major roadway and transit recommendations underwent an environmental
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