BACKGROUND

As the nation’s highway system is updated to meet future needs, state departments of transportation (DOTs) are managing the construction of increasingly complex transportation projects. As the size and complexity of these projects have increased, so has the need for identifying and addressing the impacts of project construction on communities, including disruptions to mobility, accessibility, community institutions, and quality of life.

Many community impacts and their associated mitigation measures are defined in project planning and design. However, the extent of the impact on a community is often not realized until the project is under construction. For example, business access or deliveries may be unexpectedly cut off, access to principal community destinations like parks or religious institutions may be affected, and noise or light pollution from the construction zone may disturb community residents. Often the impacts may not arise until well after construction is complete. For example, some communities experience changes to land use or housing and business rental affordability that can have lasting effects on the culture and composition of a community. 

State DOTs often implement community impact strategies to mitigate the impacts of construction and build community support for the project. Examples of mitigation include providing construction-related career development; local and small business participation in construction; providing access to local businesses and other community destinations such as places of worship, hospitals, and parks in construction zones; and incorporating community-focused project features. Developing and implementing strategies for providing community benefits during construction require skills and expertise that are not typical of the construction workforce. Research is needed to support state DOTs in managing construction-related community impacts. 

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this research is to develop a guide on avoiding and mitigating community impacts from transportation project construction applicable to a variety of project contexts, sizes, and types. 

At a minimum, the guide shall: 

• Outline a process for identifying and implementing strategies, tools, and methods to address impacts to communities from construction
• Provide the business case for why it is important to state DOTs to address construction impacts
• Summarize the current state of the practice
• Provide instruction on applying strategies, methods, and tools for stakeholder engagement immediately before and during construction
  
• Provide case studies illustrating successful approaches

Accomplishment of the project objective will require at least the following tasks.

TASKS 

Task descriptions are intended to provide a framework for conducting the research. The NCHRP is seeking the insights of proposers on how best to achieve the research objective. Proposers are expected to describe research plans that can realistically be accomplished within the constraints of available funds and contract time. Proposals must present the proposers' current thinking in sufficient detail to demonstrate their understanding of the issues and the soundness of their approach to meeting the research objective.

The research plan should (1) include a virtual kickoff meeting with the research team and the NCHRP within 1 month of the contract’s execution; (2) directly address how the proposer intends to satisfy the project objective; (3) be divided logically into detailed tasks necessary to fulfill the research objective; (4) include appropriate milestones and interim deliverables; (5) be presented in two phases, with phase I focused on data-gathering using a literature review and stakeholder engagement and phase II focused on data analysis, development, and verification of final deliverables; (6) include one face-to-face meeting to review an interim report and advance to phase II; and (7) incorporate opportunities for the NCHRP to review, comment on, and approve milestone deliverables.

An annotated outline of the guide is to be prepared and submitted as a component of phase I. A draft guide must be submitted to the NCHRP at least 6 months before the contract’s completion.

The guide shall define and address a wide range of institutional, economic, and cultural factors that may affect the types and magnitude of community impacts that arise during construction. At a minimum, the following shall be considered in the research process and addressed in the final deliverables:

• Community cultural history, composition, and design
• Community access to business, education, religious, and recreational destinations during construction
• Community types, sizes, and locations, including rural, suburban, and urban community contexts
• Project types that can have detrimental community impacts during construction
• The needs of lower income, immigrant, and minority-majority communities, particularly barriers to stakeholder engagement 
  
• The legacy of past projects that have had lasting social, environmental, and economic effects

The final deliverables shall include, at a minimum:

• A guide to mitigating community impacts from construction
• A PowerPoint presentation with speaker’s notes summarizing the project
• A technical memorandum titled “Implementation of Research Findings and Products” (see Special Note J) 

Note: Following receipt of the draft final deliverables, the remaining 3 months shall be for NCHRP review and comment and for research agency preparation of the final deliverables.

SPECIAL NOTES

A. The Information and Instructions for Preparing Proposals for the Transportation Research Board’s Cooperative Research Programs were revised in May 2024. Please take note of the new and revised text which is highlighted in yellow.

B. Proposals must be submitted as a single PDF file with a maximum file size of 10 MB. The PDF must be formatted for standard 8 ½” X 11” paper, and the entire proposal must not exceed 60 pages (according to the page count displayed in the PDF). Proposals that do not meet these requirements will be rejected. For other requirements, refer to chapter V of the instructions.

C. The Information and Instructions for Preparing Proposals for the Transportation Research Board’s Cooperative Research Programs have been modified to include a revised policy and instructions for disclosing Investigator Conflict of Interest. For more information, refer to chapter IV of the instructions. A detailed definition and examples can be found in the CRP Conflict of Interest Policy for Contractors. The proposer recommended by the project panel will be required to submit an Investigator Conflict of Interest and Disclosure Form as a prerequisite for contract negotiations.

D. Proposals will be rejected if any of the proposed research team members work for organizations represented on the project panel. The panel roster for this project can be found at https://www.mytrb.org/OnlineDirectory/Committee/Details/7107. Proposers may not contact panel members directly; this roster is provided solely for the purpose of avoiding potential conflicts of interest.

E. Proprietary Products - If any proprietary products are to be used or tested in the project, please refer to Item 6 in the Information and Instructions for Preparing Proposals.

F. Proposals are evaluated by the NCHRP staff and project panels consisting of individuals collectively knowledgeable in the problem area. The project panel will recommend their first choice proposal considering the following factors: (1) the proposer's demonstrated understanding of the problem; (2) the merit of the proposed research approach and experiment design; (3) the experience, qualifications, and objectivity of the research team in the same or closely related problem area; (4) the plan for ensuring application of results; (5) how the proposer approaches inclusion and diversity in the composition of their team and research approach, including participation by certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprises; and, if relevant, (6) the adequacy of the facilities. A recommendation by the project panel is not a guarantee of a contract. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS - the contracting authority for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine) will conduct an internal due diligence review and risk assessment of the panel’s recommended proposal before contract negotiations continue.

Note: The proposer's approach to inclusion and diversity as well as participation by Disadvantaged Business Enterprises should be incorporated in Item 11 of the proposal.

G. Copyrights - All data, written materials, computer software, graphic and photographic images, and other information prepared under the contract and the copyrights therein shall be owned by the National Academy of Sciences. The contractor and subcontractors will be able to publish this material for non-commercial purposes, for internal use, or to further academic research or studies with permission from TRB Cooperative Research Programs. The contractor and subcontractors will not be allowed to sell the project material without prior approval by the National Academy of Sciences. By signing a contract with the National Academy of Sciences, contractors accept legal responsibility for any copyright infringement that may exist in work done for TRB. Contractors are therefore responsible for obtaining all necessary permissions for use of copyrighted material in TRB's Cooperative Research Programs publications. For guidance on TRB's policies on using copyrighted material please consult Section 5.4, "Use of Copyrighted Material," in the Procedural Manual for Contractors.

H. The text of the final deliverable is expected to be publication-ready when it is submitted. It is strongly recommended that the research team include the expertise of a technical editor as early in the project timeline as possible. See Appendix F of the Procedural Manual for Contractors Conducting Research in the Transportation Research Board’s Cooperative Research Program for technical editing standards expected in final deliverables.

I. Proposals should include a task-by-task breakdown of labor hours for each staff member as shown in Figure 4 in the Information and Instructions for Preparing Proposals. Proposals also should include a breakdown of all costs (e.g., wages, indirect costs, travel, materials, and total) for each task using Figures 5 and 6 in the brochure. Please note that TRB Cooperative Research Program subawards (selected proposers are considered subawards to the National Academy of Sciences, the parent organization of TRB) must comply with 2 CFR 200 – Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards. These requirements include a provision that proposers without a "federally" Negotiated Indirect Costs Rate Agreement (NICRA) shall be subject to a maximum allowable indirect rate of 10% of Modified Total Direct Costs. Modified Total Direct Costs include all salaries and wages, applicable fringe benefits, materials and supplies, services, travel, and up to the first $25,000 of each lower tier subaward and subcontract. Modified Total Direct Costs exclude equipment, capital expenditures, charges for patient care, rental costs, tuition remission, scholarships and fellowships, participant support costs and the portion of each lower tier subaward and subcontract in excess of $25,000.

J. The required technical memorandum titled “Implementation of Research Findings and Products” should (a) provide recommendations on how to best put the research findings/products into practice; (b) identify possible institutions that might take leadership in applying the research findings/products; (c) identify issues affecting potential implementation of the findings/products and recommend possible actions to address these issues; and (d) recommend methods of identifying and measuring the impacts associated with implementation of the findings/products. Implementation of these recommendations is not part of the research project and, if warranted, details of these actions will be developed and implemented in future efforts.

The research team will be expected to provide input to an implementation team consisting of panel members, AASHTO committee members, the NCHRP Implementation Coordinator, and others in order to meet the goals of NCHRP Active Implementation: Moving Research into Practice, available at http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/docs/NCHRP_ActiveImplementation.pdf.

K. If the subawardee is proposed to conduct less than 50% of the total effort (by time or budget), then section five of the proposal should include (1) a justification of why this approach is appropriate and (2) a description of how the subawardee will ensure adequate communication and coordination with their lower-tier subawardees throughout the project.

L. All budget information should be suitable for printing on 8½″ x 11″ paper. If a budget page cannot fit on a single 8½″ x 11″ page, it should be split over multiple pages. Proposers must use the Excel templates provided in the Information and Instructions for Preparing Proposals for the Transportation Research Board’s Cooperative Research Programs.

M. The National Academies have an ethical and legal obligation to provide proper attribution whenever material from other sources is included in its reports, online postings, and other publications and products. TRB will review all Cooperative Research Programs draft final deliverables using the software iThenticate for potential plagiarism. If plagiarized text appears in the draft final deliverable, the research team will be required to make revisions and the opportunity to submit future proposals may be affected.