SAFETEA-LU, the federal transportation legislation governing the metropolitan transportation planning process, required that metropolitan planning organizations such as the Birmingham MPO to engage and consult with affected land use management, natural resources, environmental protection, conservation and historic preservation state and local agencies regarding the development of the long-range transportation plan a.k.a. regional transportation plan  (23 C.F.R. § 450.322(g)).  In compliance with these regulations, this initial consultation establishes a dialogue with environmental agencies and creates a foundation for ongoing consultation and knowledge sharing regarding environmental issues on a regional, system-wide scale.  This effort has led to the creation of a series of maps, which show the intersection of the regional transportation plan with State conservation plans and inventories of natural or historic resources.

As part of this project, the Birmingham Metropolitan Planning Organization defined and assembled an inventory of environmental resources and data onto several maps. These maps will be used to initiate a dialogue between the Birmingham MPO and environmental, historic preservation and transportation agencies about the relationship between the RTP, regional environmental concerns, resource conservation, and resource preservation focused on transportation planning. For instance, the maps can serve as a tool to identify long-term regional mitigation strategies.  The maps can be used to identify areas of high conservation priority and/or areas for potential restoration.  Mitigation efforts collectively could concentrate in these areas, often providing greater environmental benefit than piecemeal mitigation efforts.

The consultation effort is strictly intended to examine the RTP at a regional scale and not at the project level.  Moreover, at this early planning stage, specific project information regarding exact locations and project dimensions are not known.  Therefore, it is important to note that the lines representing RTP projects in the maps do not represent actual alignments, but rather are general depictions of project locations.   Each map also includes data descriptions of the environmental data used, which outlines data origin and definitions. 

Maps

• Environmental Justice
• Cultural and Historic Resources
• Protected/Sensitive Species
• Sensitive Geographic Landforms