Transportation
Articles
“Integrating CSS Into the State Scenic Byways Program,”
America’s Byways Resource Center; Vistas, March/April 2005
Motorized: Integrating CSS Into the State Scenic Byways Program
The State of Maryland values its scenic byway program. The State’s 31 byways are recognized as having character and resources the State Highway Administration (SHA) would like to see preserved for generations to come.
The process that Maryland SHA used in recognizing the significance of the historic resources and the decisions affecting the treatment of those resources led to the suggestion of creating a comprehensive treatment framework for all byway resources. Context-Sensitive Solutions (CSS) results from a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to developing and implementing transportation projects, involving all stakeholders to ensure that projects are in harmony with communities and preserve and enhance the environmental, scenic, aesthetic and historic resources while enhancing safety and mobility.
While MSHA makes an effort to apply CSS to all projects, the Maryland Scenic Byways merited additional care in decision making to preserve and enhance the byways special qualities.
The SHA developed a new Scenic Byway program in 2000. There is considerable enthusiasm around the State for this program, and it has received important national recognition for two of the byways with an All-American Road designation for the Historic National Road (HNR) and a National Scenic Byway designation for the Chesapeake Country Byway on the Eastern Shore.
A set of draft guidelines has been developed to heighten awareness regarding the importance of Maryland scenic byways. The purpose of this guidance is to help project staff and other stakeholders understand the special qualities of a byway and make project and operations decisions that will reinforce and enhance these qualities. The guidelines are separated into three sections:
- Maryland Scenic byways CSS Guidelines,
- National Road CSS Guidelines, and
- A training program for implementation of the Scenic Byways and National Road Guidelines.
The following is an interview with the State Scenic Byways Coordinator, Terry Maxwell, about the process for integrating CSS into the byways program:
1. Why did the State of Maryland decide to take on the CSS initiative for byways?
The idea of developing CSS Guidelines for all of Maryland’s 31 byways was an outgrowth of the Maryland National Road (MNR) Corridor Partnership Planning (CPP) effort conducted from January of 2000 to May of 2001 and from Maryland State Highway Administration’s ongoing efforts to encourage CSS as a way of doing business for all projects following the 1998 “Thinking Beyond the Pavement” workshop. A key concern of MNR stakeholders and the SHA Office of Environmental ‘design (OED) is how to address the cumulative effect of a series of individual actions. If undertaken without reference to protecting and enhancing the special qualities of the byways.
With the excellent support of Lardner/Klein, Landscape Architects, PC and Oldham Historic Properties, Inc., we are presently meeting with key managers to discuss how to implement these guidelines within the SHA culture. There is the important task of educating staff in key areas of the significance of these corridors. This is a new way of thinking in which planners and designers will need to consider the significance of corridors as opposed to just sites or districts, which will encourage them to think creatively to find ways to achieve a balanced outcome that is both safety conscious and sensitive to the local and regional context. The main avenue of education will occur by opening up new channels of communication between OED and other SHA offices, concerning the byways. We have also created a PowerPoint presentation to take to office-wide meeting to reach larger groups out in the Districts.
2. Were the byway groups a part of this decision?
The whole process started as a recommendation from the corridor planning process. Members of the HNR Corridor Group (now called the MNRA) met SHA staff for an all-day workshop to discuss CSS strategies for the byway. The consensus was that there was a need for a road design guidance document. Over the past two years, OED of SHA has been developing the first two sections, working with two advisory groups: one smaller group to develop a set of draft guidelines for the State’s systems of scenic byways, and the second to explore the most appropriate ways to implement and apply this guidance, using the HNR as a case study. The latter group was composed of two to three employees from each SHA District along the HNR together with representatives from the MNRA. We also brought in public works representatives from the county and municipal transportation, tourism and planning offices and historic preservation groups from along the HNR who were not yet involved with the corridor planning process.
3. If this initiative a reflection of the State’s values regarding community and byways?
The CSS guidelines are right in line with our “Thinking Beyond the Pavement (TBTP)” philosophy to give heightened sensitivity to the context and to improve relationships between SHA and communities. SHA defines CSS design as a “collaborative, interdisciplinary approach that involves all stakeholders to develop a transportation facility that fits its physical setting and preserves scenic, aesthetic, historic, and environmental resources, while maintaining safety and mobility. CSS design is an approach that considers the total context within which a transportation improvement project will exist.” A good example includes a recent popular SHA publication, When Main Street is a State Highway-Blending Function, Beauty and Identity-A Handbook for Communities and Designers. This handbook guides community representatives and SHA staff through a step-by-step comprehensive process that will allow them to identify and achieve community transportation goals.
While the TBTP approach applies to all of SHA’s projects, OED is lobbying that Maryland’s scenic byways, designated for their acknowledged scenic, cultural and historic qualities, merit additional care in decision making to preserve and enhance their special qualities. The CSS Guidelines for Byways is a perfect complement to the TBTP approach by providing a framework for:
- Understanding the significance of an entire byway through State designation data, byway organization data, and/or CMP data
- Choosing whether to preserve, maintain and/or enhance the features that contribute to a traveler’s special experience along the byway
- Reviewing fifteen project elements and considering suggestions for treatments aimed to meet the goal of preserving, maintaining and enhancing the byway
4. How much CSS was in place prior to this initiative?
Most of SHA’s current CSS “Thinking Beyond the Pavement (TBTP)” activities involve items that have been identified in implementation work plans developed by four TBTP task teams and their sub-teams. The following task team list is an example of the framework set up. Also detailed work plans are available through our TBTP program coordinator:
- Organization and Policy Task Team - Action Items
- Project development Process Team - Action Items
- Community Involvement Team - Action Items
- Project Management and Leadership Development Training Team -Action Items
5. How long did the process take and what were the biggest obstacles?
It took about two years. The biggest obstacle is the monumental task of educating old-school thinkers who believe that the present process is fine.
6. Are the individual byway CMPs taken into account or do they need to be updated after the State initiates a CSS plan for an individual byway?
CMPs will become a major resource for project managers as they use these guidelines. All Maryland CMPs are required to address CSS issues.
7. What is the State’s hope and vision for the CSS byway initiative?
We hope that all SHA project managers a headquarters and in the districts become aware of and appreciate the value of Maryland Scenic Byways. We also hope that their decisions are well thought out and well coordinated with byway stakeholders as well as internal offices, taking into consideration the character-defining features that contribute to the byway’s designation. Eventually we hope to reach out to all county and municipal planning and/or public works project managers to help them appreciate the aforementioned.