Community Impact Assessment

Community Impact Assessment (also referred to as Socio-economic Assessment) is a process used to evaluate the effects of transportation projects on community residents and their quality of life. Typically these effects may include changes in access, business and residential relocations, environmental justice issues, cohesion impacts, affects on public facilities and services, development and growth patterns, land use changes and other potential results associated with improvements in infrastructure. The assessment process is an integral part of project planning and development. Public involvement during the early stages of project development can ensure that the community residents are not only aware of the planned improvement but play an active role in achieving the greatest possible benefit for the most people. These processes are in place to facilitate beneficial results for the community.

IDOT’s Community Impact Assessment Manual has been developed for use in the identification and assessment of socioeconomic impacts. This manual provides a description of the community impacts that may occur as a result of a transportation project, and specifies methods, techniques and data requirements for conducting a community study. Also included are procedures for presenting the results of the assessment in environmental documents and a description of mitigation measures that can be applied if adverse impacts are unavoidable.