The Trump administration's overhaul of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) will both reduce delays to key transportation improvements projects and maintain environmental safeguards, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA).

In comments submitted March 10 with the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), ARTBA noted: "[t]he nation's transportation infrastructure needs are too pressing, and funding is too constrained, to continue wasting time and taxpayer dollars on unnecessary project delays resulting from the current NEPA process.

"Everyone involved in this process can continue to serve as good environmental stewards while achieving the efficiencies envisioned in CEQ's proposal," ARTBA said in its comments. "NEPA modernization is welcome and long overdue."

NEPA was last updated more than 30 years ago. The statute is an essential tool for protecting the environment, but its outdated review procedures have delayed — sometimes for years — desperately needed transportation improvement projects while offering no tangible environmental benefits.

For more information, visit www.artba.org.