Our staff provides the Maryland Department of Emergency Management Business Development (MDEM) services. Our staff provide the link between the Program Management Office and Hazard Mitigation Branch. Internal Procedures, Standard Operating Procedures, Process Maps, and Templates have been developed to increase efficiency and effectiveness across the Branch while managing/administering FEMA’s grants (HMGP, BRIC, FMA, L-PDM, HHPD, PDM). These products are developed into training modules in Articulate360 to assist with Branch on-boarding staff needs.

A P3 Project.

The SCMaglev project is a high-speed superconducting magnetic levitation (SCMAGLEV) system between Washington, DC and Baltimore, Maryland with an intermediate stop at BWI Airport. The study area is 40 miles long and 10 miles wide. The project issues are complex with numerous environmental, engineering, and political constraints coupled with an accelerated project schedule and 32 Cooperating and Participating Agencies.

KLT Group serves as the Lead Environmental Manager for MDOT Maryland Transit Administration.  KLT Group responsibilities include development of the NEPA environmental documentation (EIS/ROD) for the $28.8M study. KLT Group manages the federal and state processes serving as the primary liaison between the state of Maryland and the lead Federal agency (FRA) as well as agency facilitator for the 32 cooperating/participating agencies.

Our staff provides the Maryland Department of Transportation on-site grant support services by developing a comprehensive grant tracker of all MDOT Transportation Business Units (TBUs) and local entities transportation grants that have been applied for and awarded by Federal, State, and Local sources. A Federal Discretionary Grants Newsletter has been established to incorporate news, awarded projects, open federal and state opportunities and other available resources. New processes for internal efficiency have been developed to track requested letters of support from the Transportation Secretary. Additionally, various MDOT Grant websites have been updated to incorporate grant resources, IIJA opportunities, and various tips for successful grant application submission.

Our staff have served onsite for clients such as MDOT MTA and MDOT SHA serving as environmental managers, engineers, environmental justice leads, and GIS analysts.

A technology-driven society requires information and data to be available in real-time. Therefore, developing efficient and effective tools for navigating the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and/or environmental review process is becoming increasingly important. VirtualNEPA^TM provides the framework for a collaborative project review process—from small-scale community improvement efforts to large-scale multi-faceted capital projects.

• IMPROVE Agency and Public Review Processes
• REDUCE Document Sizes
• INCREASE Project Transparency

For additional information regarding VirtualNEPA^TM visit our sister website, VirtualNEPA.com.

Additional Notes:

The 2019 Maryland Department of Transportation Environmental Excellence Award winner for “demonstrating outstanding leadership and performance at MDOT by effectively implementing environmentally compliant practices through innovative strategies and outreach.”

The purpose of this project is to construct and operate a new offshore wind farm designed to help the State of Maryland meet its clean energy goals while satisfying the requirements of the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2013. The SJWF will consist of up to 16 wind turbine generators (WTGs), submarine cables between the WTGs, and an offshore substation or integrated Cable Transition Tower. All of this will be located within federal waters on the outer continental shelf (OCS), in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)’s Renewable Energy Lease Area, approximately 19 miles from the closest point on land. The SJWF will also include an Operations and Maintenance (O&M) facility that will be located in or near Ocean City, Maryland.

Our staff has planned for and facilitated NEPA/MEPA and environmental training sessions for a wide range of clients, each tailored to their specific needs.  We have training facilitation experience in both the in-person and virtual formats.  Examples of our training facilitation include NEPA and Environmental Process Review Training sessions and Climate Change/Resiliency understanding and brainstorming sessions.

The purpose of the project is to create safer and more functional transfers and operator reliefs at one of the busiest sites for MDOT MTA, downtown Baltimore, between bus routes on Baltimore Street, Metro SubwayLink, and Light RailLink services. This will improve safety for pedestrians and vehicles, pedestrian circulation, and ADA accessibility, traffic operations and connectivity to the downtown community.  The project requires an active stakeholder outreach effort, as the location involves multiple business owners, hotels, new building developments, and an outspoken community. The project also faces high design and construction costs, which requires innovative ways to obtain funding.

Project Governor Hogan’s Baltimore Traffic Relief Plan

In 2017, Governor Hogan announced a Transportation Investment to bring congestion relief for the Baltimore Region. The interchange at I-70 and I-695—known and coined as the “Triple Bridges”—is located in the urban/mix-used landscape of Woodlawn, Baltimore County. The branding of the structure helped with name recognition of the projects crucial challenge to and address the three-level, compact configuration and provide congestion relief solutions. This project continues through the NEPA process. To support the NEPA documentation, various technical studies to evaluate impacts to local communities were paired with both traditional methods—such as public meetings and meetings with civic organizations – as well as innovative solutions, such as Geofencing linked to online surveys. These methods promote transparence of the project and allowed the public and stakeholder to provide valuable information that will create a project for both regional travelers and local commuters.

Governor Hogan Priority Bridge Replacement Project

Source: MDOT SHA

The MD 273 Bridge over Big Elk Creek project just located in Cecil County, MD, and passes through Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area, a Maryland Department of Natural Resources owed Park.”.  This project was included in Governor Larry Hogan’s commitment to address 69 structurally deficient bridges across Maryland.  The project employed close collaboration, to meet internal and external stakeholder needs, while maintaining flexibility to acknowledge agencies commitments to other projects. This was necessary because of the project’s unique location within a regionally important State Park, the recreational value of Big Elk Creek; combined with an aggressive schedule, and MD 273 as heavily traveled through route. Successful coordination between MDOT SHA, FHWA, DNR and Fair Hill Park officials, US COE, USFWS, MHT, and the public, ensured that environmental regulations were complied with, values important to Fair Hill achieved, and safety of the traveling public was maintained.

The purpose of the I-270/MD 121-Cabin Branch Project Planning Study was to improve transit accessibility and provide safety and capacity improvements at the I-270/MD 121 interchange as a result of the Cabin Branch development; a 540-acre, mixed-use development site.  Arranged and participated in agency field reviews with the US FWS, US COE, MD Department of Planning, EPA, Metropolitan Planning Organization, MHT, NPS, and FHWA. An Environmental Assessment Form, Project Consistency Report, Project Review Checklist, and Categorical Exclusion were completed and submitted to the Federal Highway Administration.

Overall environmental management, environmental assessments, extensive public involvement element and coordination with federal and state agencies.

Environmental issues assessed and reviewed for the replacement of an existing bridge and upgrading the existing intersections on both sides of the river (West Virginia and Maryland).  Project issues were diverse and included review of noise analysis and mitigation recommendations, air quality, archeological and architecture reports as well as endangered species, wetlands and floodplain avoidance.

Following the launch of the BaltimoreLink bus system, a study was initiated to test a variety of headway management methods. To measure the success of those methods, the project team utilized raw GPS data to calculate and track improvements to bus on-time performance and headway adherence. Outputs from the study included weekly statistics tied to bus stops, charts and graphs indicating changes, and maps to analyze where those measures were most effective. Weekly reports and recommendations were presented to operations management to aid in future decision-making.

Each year, MDOT MTA allocates State funding to projects 6 years into the future. The Capital Project Investment Strategy scores and prioritizes proposed projects for funding using criteria that align with MTA’s four cornerstones: Safety, Efficiency, Reliability, and Customer Service. This project is closely aligned with the agency’s asset management efforts and draws upon asset inventory-related data that is maintained regularly. It also involves coordination with Asset Owners and Project Managers throughout MTA’s operating modes.

The expansion of transit priority infrastructure is a priority for the MDOT MTA and Baltimore City. A data-driven evaluation of transit corridors is crucial to understanding the viability of dedicated bus only lanes in the city. The project involves the collection, visualization, and analysis of key transit and traffic metrics such as travel speeds, dwell times, bus frequency, and passenger through-put.

Complex transportation projects in the state of Maryland employed the Streamlined Environmental and Regulatory Process to facilitate environmental compliance and reviews, both for NEPA and the Section 404 permitting process. The Transportation Environmental Review Process (TERP) was developed as a comprehensive update/process revision that identified separate approval “tracts” for projects seeking Section 404 permit authorizations for both during and after the planning phase. This effort involved an over 18-month process with state and federal agency participation, collaboration, and review.

Preparation of the EA involved extensive Cultural Resource/Section 106 Coordination and Section 7 Consultation.  In addition, the project had complex connected actions that were incorporated into and evaluated as part of the EA document. The project also required extensive coordination with the FAA ADO (Beckley) as well as Regional (Eastern Region) and Legal FAA personnel.

Key stakeholder engagement was required—including coordination with regulatory agencies—for successful project execution.  This was largely in part due to the wide variety of existing environmental resources at the project site, including:  tidal wetlands/waters (Army Corps of Engineers, Maryland Department of the Environment), federally listed endangered species and informal Section 7 Consultation (National Marine Fisheries Service), Nationally-registered historic bridge and associated Programmatic Section 4(f) (Advisory Council of Historic Preservation), Chesapeake Bay Critical Area/required mitigation requirements (Critical Area Commission), and many others.  All interests of the stakeholders, as well as regulatory requirements and permitting, had to be satisfied in order to keep the project moving on schedule and budget.  Ultimately, the input from both internal and external stakeholders led to the successful completion of detailed engineering design plans and NEPA approval (CE/Programmatic Section 4(f)) of the project within overall project schedule.

The Project goal was to improve rail connectivity along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) by replacing or improving the Susquehanna River Rail Bridge between the City of Havre de Grace in Harford County, Maryland and the Town of Perryville in Cecil County, Maryland. FRA was the lead federal agency and the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak), as the bridge owner and operator.

Maryland Route 200, also known as the Intercounty Connector (ICC) is an 18.8-mile-long, six-lane toll road located in Montgomery and Prince George’s County, Maryland. Work included preparation of the EIS/FONSI as well as serving as co-Environmental Manager during the design-build phase to address post-ROD refinements and associated NEPA re-evaluations.  FHWA was the lead federal agency and the MDOT Maryland State Highway Administration (planning/design-build phases) and MDOT Maryland Transportation Authority (open to traffic).

Development of Programmatic Agreements to reduce time, costs, and limit the number of staff needed in the Section 106 review processes.

Development of sustainability MDOT MTA efforts, categorizing each into eight key areas (e.g. energy, water, waste reduction), defining performance measures for each area and recommending goals and objectives.

The project included construction of a new platform, improvements to the current BWI Airport station with possible multi-level transit-oriented development, and addition of 9 miles of fourth track along the Northeast Corridor Line. The general project area is defined as a 500-foot linear corridor centered on the existing rail line between the Odenton Station and Halethorpe Station, for a distance of approximately 10 miles.

A 116-acre MARC Facility and Train Storage Yard project on a historic farm. Work included environmental documentation and coordination of field data collection efforts, Section 4(f) and 106 analysis, and air, noise, vibration, 100-year floodplain, forest conservation, wetland delineation, and cultural resource studies.

BaltimoreLink created 12 high frequency buses throughout the metropolitan area that connected Metro Subway, Light Rail, and Maryland Area Regional Commuter (MARC) rail.  The buses were color coded, high frequency with extended hours of service.  Physical improvements included bus loop installation, canopies, modular bus shelters, bathrooms for bus operators, fencing, concrete pads, ticket vending machines, real time information signs, benches, landscaping, and fencing.

Identification of potential MDOT MTA projects and grant opportunities on a yearly basis.  The KLT Group grant applications have won over $26M for projects such as the MARC Camden Station renovation, bike racks on all MARC trains, TMDL projects, and feasibility studies.

Development of an ESMS for MTA’s Cromwell Light rail Facility.  The ESMS identified aspects, impacts, compliance, objectives and program identification for the 15-acre facility used by MDOT MTA for Light rail car maintenance and wash.  The ESMS objective was to set environmental protection, sustainability and environmental process improvement at the Facility. Industrial activities at the facility include the fuel dispensing, rail car maintenance, rail car washing, vehicle and equipment storage, loading/unloading, and exterior above ground storage tanks.  The ESMS was nominated by MDOT MTA for the MDOT Environmental Excellence Award for 2017.

In order to support MDOT MTA efforts to prepare and address the climate change impacts on its transit assets, KLT Group has worked on updating the agency’s Vulnerability Assessment, which included adding the most up to date and vetted climate data and modeling, performing risk analysis, and refining the most vulnerable agency’s assets list. The KLT Group is also working on the creation and implementation of an Adaptation and Resiliency Toolbox to aid in decision making in planning and design of projects, and emergency preparedness for each mode/division within the agency. The KLT Group has also helped to select top high-risk assets to start this implementation of adaptation measures.