Influence of Task Complexity in Shaping Environmental Review and Engineering Design Durations

Abstract

Timely completion of environmental reviews for transportation projects has been highlighted as a sore point for performance management by public agencies and industry alike. However, despite its importance, few academic studies investigate project-level performance during the environmental review and engineering design or examine which factors influence it significantly. In this study, we observed 56 transportation projects that the Georgia Department of Transportation completed from 211 to 215. We modeled distinct processes for three National Environmental Policy Act document types—programmatic categorical exclusion, categorical exclusion, and environmental assessment—and investigated detailed durations for environmental review activities associated with regulatory agency relation management, consultant relation management, and internal project management. Adopting task complexity theories, we then examined the influence of four dimensions of task complexity on project performance, measured by the overall durations of the environmental review and engineering design. By investigating performance empirically, this study contributes to methodological advancement and theory development in studies on environmental review. This research contributes to the body of knowledge through the creation of task complexity models to empirically examine the effects of different dimensions of task complexity on environmental review and engineering design durations.