Identify and investigate the consequences of the transportation action. A number of analysis tools can be used to examine these relationships and estimate impacts. Identify and recommend potential solutions to address adverse impacts. Techniques include avoidance, minimization, mitigation, and enhancement. Use public participation as a basis to develop project alternatives, a source of information to develop the community profile, a tool to identify and evaluate impacts, and a method to identify acceptable ways to address impacts.
Public involvement is an integral element to all of the above steps.
As options change, the analyst must make appropriate re-evaluations and adjustments in findings, particularly if there are substantial time lapses in project development. Although the steps in the community impact assessment process are logically sequential, they overlap in practice. In the early steps, when helping to frame the project and community profile, analysts must think about the probable relationships between the project and community so that relevant data are collected.