These guidelines will be of special interest to Agency administrators, project managers, and impact analysis responsible for project-level planning and impact assessment; the guidelines are applicable to both highway and transit planning. The guidelines define the transportation planning and impact assessment process showing how the no-action alternative can provide a benchmark for assessment of impacts and evaluation of alternatives. The guidelines address the issues of: (1) legal requirements governing no-action alternatives;(2) the role of the no-action alternative in transportation planning; (3) definition of no-action, minor (TSM), and major alternatives; (4) social, economic, and environmental impact assessment techniques for the no-action alternative; and (5) use of the no-action alternative in project evaluation. Although the guidelines are oriented toward transportation planning, many of the principles and procedures can be readily applied to the evaluation of other types of development projects. (Author/publisher)
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