How Does PEL Fit With Program-Level Work?
In non-urban areas, there is no federal requirement to do a project-specific long-range transportation plan. In these areas, the planning process often begins with the identification of a transportation need and proposed improvement, a corridor study, or a programmatic EIS. A programmatic, or first-tier, EIS is an environmental impact statement that looks at solutions in a broad sense, such as corridor-wide highway improvements. A subsequent project level, or second-tier, EIS would then look at project-level improvements. This approach applies to large or particularly complex transportation projects in urban areas. Specific project planning often begins with corridor studies or some variant of tiered environmental work. Under these circumstances of program-level work, linkages between planning and the environment have routinely been initiated. Corridor or programmatic studies often evaluate and compare high-level transportation solutions (e.g., highway, transit, etc.) or examine broad
