The Ohio Department of Transportation has developed a new streamlined project development process that delivers projects faster and cheaper by taking advantage of flexibilities in the federal environmental review procedures.

Historically, Ohio DOT’s project development process required all project alternatives to undergo the same degree of rigorous analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act and limited the level of design work that could be conducted on a preferred alternative with federal dollars prior to the end of the NEPA process. As with many other states, the process often consumed huge amounts of time and financial resources.

Spurred on by federal efforts to expedite project delivery nationwide, ODOT has developed a new process that allows for earlier and quicker evaluation of alternatives to get to the preferred alternative and allowing the agency to conduct a greater level of design during the environmental review process. The overall process results in quicker decision-making and the ability to overall streamline the process.