Environmental Technical Studies Office

The mission of the Cultural Resources Section is to ensure Departmental compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and all other relevant state and federal laws and regulations governing historic and archaeological resources. The Cultural Resources Section plays an essential role in the avoidance, minimization, or mitigation of adverse effects to identified historic and archaeological resources within a project’s Area of Potential Effects (APE).

The Ecology Section is a vital part of TDOT’s efforts to construct and maintain transportation facilities in an environmentally responsible manner. A critical role of the Ecology Section is the identification, classification and documentation of natural resources associated with a transportation project. Threatened and endangered species information is also obtained using GIS and coordinated with federal and state agencies to ensure that no or minimal harm occurs during construction. All of this information is used to prepare the appropriate environmental documents as well as assist in selection of an alignment corridor and final project alignment which will avoid or minimize environmental impacts.

The primary role of the Air Quality and Noise Section is to evaluate the potential air quality and noise effects on highway projects .

The primary responsibility of the Hazardous Materials (HazMat) Section is risk identification, mitigation and liability reduction.  Specifically, the section identifies and investigates contaminated sites in proposed project areas and works with other sections to minimize or mitigate impact on the project.