The guidance is intended for use by State Departments of Transportation (State DOTs), metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), and transit agencies to clarify the circumstances under which transportation planning level choices and analyses can be adopted or incorporated into the process required by NEPA.

For 40 years, Congress has directed that Federally-funded highway and transit projects must flow from metropolitan and statewide transportation planning processes (pursuant to 23 U.S.C. 134-135 and 49 U.S.C. 5303-5306). Over the years, Congress has refined and strengthened the planning process as the foundation for project decisions, emphasizing public involvement, consideration of environment and other factors, and a Federal role that oversees the transportation planning process but does not second-guess the content of transportation plans and programs.

Despite this statutory emphasis on transportation planning, the environmental analyses produced to meet the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4231 et seq.) have often been conducted de novo, disconnected from the analyses used to develop long-range transportation plans, statewide and metropolitan Transportation Improvement Programs (STIPs/TIPs), planning-level corridor/subarea/feasibility studies, or FTA's planning Alternatives Analyses. When the NEPA and transportation planning processes are not well coordinated, the NEPA process may lead to the development of information during NEPA that is more appropriately developed in the planning process, resulting in duplication of work and delays in transportation improvements.

The purpose of this guidance is to change this culture, by supporting Congressional intent that statewide and metropolitan transportation planning should be the foundation for highway and transit project decisions. This guidance was crafted to recognize that transportation planning processes vary across the country. This document provides guidance and information (both conceptually and through some illustrative "current practice" examples) on how information, analysis, and products from transportation planning can be incorporated into and relied upon in NEPA documents under existing laws.

The guidance below is intended for use by State Departments of Transportation (State DOTs), metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), and transit agencies to clarify the circumstances under which transportation planning level choices and analyses can be adopted or incorporated into the process required by NEPA. Additionally, FHWA and FTA will work with Federal environmental, regulatory, and resource agencies to incorporate the principles of this guidance in their day-to-day NEPA policies and procedures related to their involvement in highway and transit projects.