Environmental Impact Assessment of I-77 Toll Lanes

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Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF I-77 TOLL LANES
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF I-77 TOLL
LANES
[Author]
[Institution]

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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF I-77 TOLL LANES
Executive Summary
This Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) is developed near the Charlotte city, North
Carolina, USA. The learner has primarily focused on the I-77 Toll lanes project that is going to
be finished in the end of 2018. From the EIA, it is observed that this project is going to affect the
environmental factors of this area, which should be taken to notice. It is observed that Ozone
pollution in this area might create negative impact on the ecological substances available in this
area. Furthermore, it is also important to maintain the vegetation and wildlife, which are going to
be in danger after completion of this project. In this report, impact assessment and management
of such impacts have been discussed in detail. From this assessment, recommendation for
lighting strategy, creation of buffer spaces and mitigation strategies have been discussed in this
report. Furthermore, limitation of this report is also discussed as recommendation to broaden the
boundary and mixed data collection methods have been instructed in the Environmental Impact
Assessment Report.

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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF I-77 TOLL LANES
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................5
Overview of the highway project....................................................................................................5
Rationale for the current project......................................................................................................7
Screening of the project...................................................................................................................8
Scoping and baseline assessment.....................................................................................................9
Description of the environment....................................................................................................9
Soils types and geologic hazards.................................................................................................9
Hydrology..................................................................................................................................10
Ecology......................................................................................................................................10
Valued Ecosystem Components (VECs)...................................................................................10
Atmosphere of Charlotte, North Carolina..................................................................................11
Jurisdiction involved in the protection of Nature in Charlotte, North Carolina........................13
Setting boundaries......................................................................................................................14
Impact assessment.........................................................................................................................15
Impact management.......................................................................................................................16
Significance determination............................................................................................................17
EIS statement.................................................................................................................................18

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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF I-77 TOLL LANES
Recommendations and decision....................................................................................................18
Implementation and follow-up......................................................................................................19
Reference List................................................................................................................................20

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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF I-77 TOLL LANES
Introduction
This report aims to develop an appropriate Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA),
which can be presented against a highway project in Charlotte, North Carolina. EIA has been
interpreted as an activity, which is designed to forecast the influence of any programs and
operational procedures on nature. According to RE (1975), EIA can be identified as a significant
procedure that determines the environmental consequences of a proposed initiative. In this
report, the same approach has been taken, which helped the learner to identify potential impacts
of ongoing projects in Charlotte, USA. This entire report follows the basic structure of EIA,
which has been considered from the work of Noble & Press (2011).
Overview of the highway project
The project, which is considered in this report is Interstate 77 toll lanes (I-77), which
started from Lake Norman to Charlotte in the year of 2015 and expected to finish by 2018. It is
observed that this project looks after in developing more 26 miles of managed lanes along with I-
77 and I-277 by connecting Mecklenburg and Iredell. Besides this, it is also addressed that this
project is aimed to develop two 17.1 miles of hot lanes, which will be opened for both directions
(Marusak, 2018). It is the Public-Private Partnership (P3) project, and the officials have claimed
that this project will improve the mobility and reliability of travel time through the I-77 corridor
to the North direction of Charlotte. The following table highlights some additional description of
this project, which is essential to state before the EIA of this project.
Funding Sources  $100 million from Senior PABs
 $3.6 million by Bond premium

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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF I-77 TOLL LANES
 $94.7 million grant from Public funds
 $189 million achieved from TIFIA loan
Project delivery method Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Maintain
Project participants The Louis Berger Group, W.C. English, F.A. Southeast, and
Cintra Infrastructures, S.A
Table 1: Overview of the highway project
(Source: Transportation.gov, 2018)
Figure 1: Map of the highway project
(Source: Transport.gov, 2018)
Nevertheless, some issues have been observed during the development of the plan, which
has allowed the learner to undertake an EIA. It is noted that drivers are angry with this project as
late night and early morning construction process, creates huge traffic congestion in this area.