Compatibility with the Environment

Idaho’s transportation vision directs ITD to follow selected principles in developing a transportation system. In particular, the principle “Compatibility with the Environment” affirms that Idaho has a history that is strongly associated with its natural resources. It endeavors to respect and value the natural environment today and into the future.

As a result of the Visioning process, the department developed a task force of planners, engineers, and environmental specialists to assess our environmental stewardship. The result of this task force was the creation and adoption of
the Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) Guide

CSS Principles

The principles of Idaho’s vision parallel and support a Context Sensitive Solutions approach within the Department. The vision principles address the fundamental questions related to mobility, community benefit and stewardship of the system. This also explores new methods to coordinate transportation planning and multimodal corridor preservation activities in the corridor planning process.

Central to this approach has been the recognition and adoption of a publicly enunciated and acknowledged environmental ethic for the policy and decision-makers and the employees of ITD. Idaho Transportation Board Policy B-1307 establishes environmental stewardship as a major programming factor in developing transportation projects.

ITD’s environmental ethic is as follows: “The Idaho Transportation Department respects and values the many facets of Idaho’s natural and human environment and will protect and enhance those assets while providing high quality, fiscally responsible transportation systems for the citizens of Idaho.”

ITD’s CSS Guide

The Department’s Context Sensitive Solutions Guide provides a solutions approach that permeates all aspects of transportation including policy development, systems planning and project development, as well as the design, construction, maintenance and operations of the transportation system. The department created the guidance to educate and assist both internal and external users in better understanding the considerations given to our environment during the development of projects. The context sensitive solutions approach is more than just processing environmental clearances and ensuring regulatory compliance for transportation projects. It embodies the notion of “going beyond” legal requirements and being responsive to community desires. A context sensitive solutions approach means that the statewide transportation system is constructed, operated and maintained in an environmentally responsible, sustainable and compliant manner consistent with the desires of the community.