A first-in-the-nation programmatic agreement between federal transportation agencies and Connecticut is aimed at speeding up project approvals by allowing state officials to carry out required historic preservation reviews on behalf of their federal counterparts.

The agreement applies to state transportation projects that would fall under the purview of the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration or Federal Railroad Administration. The move is expected to cut as much as six weeks off the schedules of at least 90 projects each year, according to the U.S. Dept. of Transportation. 

“We’ve slashed costly red tape and prevented unending environmental reviews to build the big, beautiful infrastructure projects that will propel America forward for generations,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement. 

DOT officials say they expect the deal will benefit projects like the Gold Star Memorial Bridge between New London and Groton, a bus rapid transit system in New Haven and customer service improvements for the Metro-North Railroad’s New Haven Line. 

“By streamlining environmental reviews and cutting government red tape, we can more efficiently advance projects and ultimately reduce costs,” Connecticut Dept. of Transportation (CTDOT) Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto said in a statement. 

The deal between DOT and Connecticut is significant because of its size and scope compared to other programmatic agreements, says Susan Howard, director of policy and government relations at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). It focuses on a wide range of projects and brings together different agencies including CTDOT, the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Officer and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, along with the federal transportation agencies. Plus, Connecticut is dense with historic sites and aging infrastructure. 

Howard expects DOT may look to use the same model or a similar one for projects in other states to streamline project delivery, and potentially with other types of reviews.

“This is an emerging area that a lot of states will be looking at, U.S. DOT will be looking at over the next few years in terms of what can be done to fast-track the process for projects at the state level,” Howard says. “This is probably one one tool in the toolbox that might be expanded upon or reinvisioned for different types of programmatic agreements.”

Currently, states can take over responsibility for federal environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Assignment system. States that take on NEPA Assignment lead their own federally required environmental reviews for highway, rail, public transportation and multimodal projects, which increases the speed of projects while preserving environmental quality, according to AASHTO. 

But there are barriers to obtaining NEPA Assignment. Only eight states—Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Nebraska, Ohio, Texas and Utah—currently have it. States looking to take on the responsibility need to submit an application and undergo a public review period. If the application is approved, the state has to waive sovereign immunity, which may require action from state lawmakers and could open the state to facing lawsuits over project reviews. 

Using a programmatic agreement does not reach the same level of responsibility as taking on NEPA Assignment, Howard says. It’s a lower bar of entry and, she notes, officials were able to reach the deal with Connecticut within the first few months of the current administration. 

“They were able to execute it pretty quickly,” Howard says.