How can you incorporate historic preservation into transportation planning?

1 Understand the context

Before you start any transportation planning project, you need to understand the historical context of the area you are working in. This means researching the history, culture, and significance of the buildings, structures, landscapes, and archaeological sites that may be affected by your project. You can use sources such as historic maps, surveys, inventories, registers, and designations to identify the historic resources and their values. You can also consult with local historians, preservationists, and community groups to learn more about the stories and perspectives of the people who live or lived in the area.

2 Identify the impacts

Once you have a clear picture of the historic context, you need to identify the potential impacts of your transportation planning project on the historic resources. Impacts can be direct or indirect, positive or negative, short-term or long-term, and cumulative or individual. For example, a direct impact could be the demolition or alteration of a historic building to make way for a road or a rail line. An indirect impact could be the change in the visual, acoustic, or atmospheric character of a historic district due to increased traffic or noise. A positive impact could be the enhancement of a historic landscape by adding pedestrian or bicycle facilities. A negative impact could be the loss of a historic connection or association due to the separation or isolation of a historic site.

3 Avoid, minimize, or mitigate

After you have identified the impacts, you need to find ways to avoid, minimize, or mitigate them. Avoiding impacts means choosing an alternative that does not affect the historic resources or their values. Minimizing impacts means reducing the extent, duration, or intensity of the effects on the historic resources or their values. Mitigating impacts means compensating for the adverse effects on the historic resources or their values by providing measures such as documentation, restoration, relocation, interpretation, or education. You can use tools such as impact assessment, design review, consultation, and coordination to help you avoid, minimize, or mitigate impacts.

4 Integrate and enhance

Finally, you need to integrate and enhance the historic preservation goals and objectives into your transportation planning project. Integrating means ensuring that the historic resources and their values are considered and respected throughout the planning process and the project implementation. Enhancing means creating opportunities to showcase, celebrate, and promote the historic resources and their values as part of the transportation project. You can use strategies such as adaptive reuse, context-sensitive design, historic preservation incentives, and public participation to help you integrate and enhance historic preservation into transportation planning.

Historic preservation and transportation planning are not mutually exclusive. They can work together to create sustainable, livable, and vibrant places that reflect and respect the past, present, and future of a community. By incorporating historic preservation into transportation planning, you can contribute to the social, economic, and environmental well-being of your region.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?