Federal-Aid Highway Construction and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969

Introduction

This Note will evaluate the success of NEPA, especially that of sections 101 and 102(2)(C), in bringing environmental awareness into the planning and decision-making of the Federal Highway Administration. The discussion considers first the effect of NEPA upon citizens’ suits brought to review federal agency actions; second, those features of federal-aid highway construction and FHWA procedures which present special obstacles to the implementation of NEPA; and third, the problems confronted to date in litigation attempting to enforce the requirement of an impact statement.

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