The assessment should include all items of importance to people, such as mobility, safety, employment effects, relocation, isolation, and other community issues. In the past, the consequences of transportation projects on communities have often been overlooked or introduced near the end of the project planning process, reducing them to reactive considerations at best. It outlines the community impact assessment process which parallels the FHWA environmental process. A community impacts assessment alerts affected communities and residents as well as transportation planners and decisionmakers to the likely consequences of a proposed project, and ensures that human values and concerns receive proper attention during project planning and development. The Community Impact Assessment handbook describes how community impact assessment is important for quality of life, responsive decisionmaking, coordination, and non-discrimination.
Communities are always in a state of change.
The community and its makeup influence planning projections, choice of transportation mode, and the impacts of projects on the community. The need for collecting accurate and useful information for use in the development of transportation projects has been recognized for some time. It requires that the effects of transportation projects upon residences, businesses, tax base, and other community resources be considered during transportation decisionmaking. Communities are in the best position to know current business and population trends. However, there are several credible sources which can also provide comparable information.