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In February 2001, California’s three major transportation and resource agencies — the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA), the Resources Agency (RA), and the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency (BT&H) — established a Tri-Agency Partnership to speed transportation planning without compromising on environmental protection. The partnership was born out of the recognition that transportation projects, especially those that promote environmental objectives, need to be delivered in a timely fashion, and that improved collaboration among the three agencies was central to achieving that goal.¹⁰

The agreement identifies two purposes for the partnership. The first is to encourage its three member agencies to work collaboratively and cooperatively. The second is to ensure the timely planning and implementation of transportation projects that protect or restore the state’s environment.¹¹ Among such projects would be those that promote walkable, livable communities, environmental justice, regional planning, and cultural and environmental conservation.¹²

The partnership agreement further establishes nine goals for the future. At the most basic level, the three member agencies will identify and share information on transportation and environmental priorities and develop transportation and environmental performance criteria by which the agencies can evaluate and improve transportation projects.

Perhaps most important, the Tri-Agency Partnership encourages the “early and continuous participation of affected state, federal and local agencies, public interest groups, and the public” throughout the planning and approval process. The partnership also establishes as a goal that member agencies work together to determine the nature and scope of environmental studies, and to develop baseline environmental resource information.¹³

The partnership will also look for ways to conduct concurrent environmental and permitting processes, and to develop a process for interagency issue resolution with appropriate timelines for completion.¹⁴

Since its establishment, the Tri-Agency Partnership has formed three sub-teams to work on the various goals. The first sub-team will focus on encouraging collaborative planning early in the project development process. The sub-team sponsored a workshop in November, 2002, with the University of California at Davis to identify regions where conflicts are developing between growth and environmental concerns and initiate efforts to resolve them. The sub-team is working with regional agencies to coordinate habitat conservation planning with long-range transportation and land-use plans (as has been done in Riverside and Merced Counties, California), in an attempt to avoid or mitigate environmental impacts.¹⁵

The second sub-team is examining opportunities to align data and information requirements of federal and state permits in an effort to lessen environmental review burdens. The third sub-team is evaluating information tools such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) that might help improve decision-making, and in particular, identify opportunities to avoid sensitive habitat or other natural resources.¹⁶

The Tri-Agency Partnership is less formal than ODOT’s CETAS program. However, the two approaches share a common goal — early and continuous collaboration between transportation and resource agencies. The Tri- Agency Partnership has helped instill in all the departments under the three agencies a much greater awareness of opportunities to incorporate environmental enhancements in transportation projects. While administrators of the partnership have yet to complete a formal review of its effectiveness, there continues to be a strong commitment from high-level officials, and participants are optimistic about the partnership’s potential.¹⁷

Some results from the Tri-Agency Partnership include:

§ A revived effort between the state Department of Fish and Game and CALTRANS to align various state and federal requirements related to the aquatic environment, endangered species, and streambed alteration. (CALTRANS is the California Department of Transportation, a constituent agency of BT&H).

§ A project in which CALTRANS and the California Department of Parks and Recreation worked together to connect two important habitat areas in Orange and Riverside counties by removing highway off ramps that were no longer needed and in their place created a wildlife underpass in Coal Canyon.

Endnotes

10. Partnership Agreement Among Resources Agency, California Environmental Protection Agency, and Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. February 21, 2001. California Transportation Commission. Executive Guide: Issues for 2002. From 2001 Annual Report to the California Legislature. Adopted December 13, 2001.

11. Partnership Agreement Among Resources Agency, California Environmental Protection Agency, and Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. February 21, 2001.

12. Partnership Agreement Among Resources Agency, California Environmental Protection Agency, and Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. February 21, 2001.

13. Partnership Agreement Among Resources Agency, California Environmental Protection Agency, and Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. February 21, 2001.

14. Partnership Agreement Among Resources Agency, California Environmental Protection Agency, and Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. February 21, 2001.

15. Personal communication — Denise O’Connor, Caltrans. December 16, 2002.

16. Personal communication — Denise O’Connor, Caltrans. December 16, 2002.