Under bicameral legislation introduced last week by a partisan collection of federal lawmakers, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) could push forward with demonstrations of streamlined digital, cloud-based platforms for analysis and engagement related to its projects.
Meant as a way to improve efficiency for both environmental review processes and community oversight, the Interactive Federal Review Act would require the FHWA to select at least 10 federal highway projects to demonstrate such measures. The senators cited FHWA data to justify the proposal, noting that a typical Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) now takes an average of 6.5 years to complete – nearly triple the time it took when the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was created more than 50 years ago.
