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We have categorized these FAQs into three general areas.
If you are looking for overall information, review Background.
If you are part of a project team scoping a project, review Project Team Information.
If you are writing a social report, Doing a Social Analysis will give you answers to most of your questions.
What are the fundamental concepts?
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires that environmental considerations, including the social and economic impacts of the Project, are given due weight in the decision making process. The State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), assumes that “the general welfare, social, economic, and other requirements and essential considerations of state policy will be taken into account in weighing and balancing alternatives and in making final decisions.”
Is this a new requirement?
No. As recipients of Federal-aid, WSDOT is required to submit assurances of compliance with nondiscrimination under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and many other related laws, regulations, and policies. FHWA is responsible for ensuring our compliance. FHWA's technical advisory 6640.8 (a) confirms the need to examine social effects during environmental analysis. 23 USC 109(h) also emphasizes the need to review transportation project effects on social elements.
How does this fit with WSDOT's and FHWA's policy direction?
FHWA encourages us to build a highway system that fits harmoniously within both the natural environment and neighborhoods and communities. In 1996, FHWA issued “CIA: A Quick Reference for Transportation” (known as the purple book). They have sponsored community impact assessment workshops. FHWA currently supports a Transportation Research Board (TRB) subcommittee on community impact assessment and a practitioner's network. WSDOT created a Context Sensitive Design training and co-sponsored a Community Impact Assessment workshop in Spokane. We also co-authored an award winning, “Building Projects that Build Communities” and issued a Secretary's Executive Order on Context Sensitive Solutions.
What role does context sensitive solutions play in social and community effects?
Context Sensitive Solutions encourages our engineers to design projects that consider effects on a community's aesthetic, social, economic and environmental values and needs. WSDOT endorses a Context Sensitive Solutions approach for all projects, large and small, from early planning through construction and eventual operation. The WSDOT Executive Order E 1028.00 supports early, inclusive public involvement. Our Understanding Flexibility in Transportation Design (pdf 25 kb) is a guide to help our planners and designers use context sensitive solutions. We also developed a training class based on the manual.
FHWA's memorandum on Context Sensitive Solutions, October 2002, states that one of the “Vital Few” strategies for FHWA is context sensitive solutions. The Transportation Research Board has a report titled A Guide to Best Practices for Achieving Context Sensitive Solutions (NCHRP Report 480).
What role does community impact assessment play in analyzing social elements?
Community impact assessment helps evaluate the effects of a transportation project on a community and its quality of life. The information can help to mold a transportation plan and its projects. An agency would generally do a community impact assessment during planning and project development. Currently many state DOTs use community impact assessment including:
If you use a community impact assessment process, you can gather a great deal of valuable information on the current and anticipated social and economic environment of an area. The assessment is comprised of the following steps:
- define the project, study, and planning area;
- develop a community profile;
- analyze effects;
- identify solutions;
- use public involvement;
- document findings
You can find more detail on these steps in FHWA's Community Impact Assessment: A Quick Reference for Transportation, and its companion document, Community Impact Mitigation: Case Studies. We use these resources for social analysis during the environmental process. There are two main differences between community impact assessment and a social analysis. A social analysis is done during the environmental phase of project development instead of during the planning process and is always directly connected to a project.
Do I need to analyze social effects on all projects?
Yes. Federal non-discrimination laws apply to all planning and project development programs, policies and activities. In project development, you should consider social effects whether a Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), Environmental Assessment (EA), or Categorical Exclusion (CE) is being done. You should be guided as much by potential effects to the human environment as by potential effects on the natural environment.
When you identify any early public and agency issues in the scoping stage during the NEPA/SEPA process, remember compliance with Title VI and other non-discrimination laws and regulations. You should identify affected populations as early as possible and address their concerns, preferably in planning stages to prevent non-compliance. Use our social decision matrix (pdf 66 kb). It will help you to scope these effects, scale your analysis and right size your document. Very simple projects may be exempt from any analysis.
Project Team Information
When do I need to do a social analysis?
Only very minor projects are completely exempt from a social analysis. Use the social decision matrix (pdf 66 kb) to help you decide level of analysis. Your level of analysis will depend on the type and intensity of effects. Section 109(h) of the Federal Aid Highway Act which applies to both SEPA and NEPA projects, requires it. For most projects, you will not need to do a full analysis. The nondiscrimination requirements of Title VI, ADA and the Age Discrimination Act apply to all State projects, including those that do not involve Federal-aid funds. These federal laws apply to all agencies that accept federal dollars. State only funded projects do not have to analyze possible discrimination of low-income populations, since federal law does not cover that population. However, low-income populations usually have higher numbers of minorities, elderly, disabled and recent immigrants, who are protected by federal law. The local FHWA division office can clarify this distinction, if you have questions. (360) 534-9325.
What should I include in a social analysis?
The social (pdf 66 kb) decision matrix will help you scope it. Depending on whether your project has an effect on communities near it or not, your level of documentation will vary. For a social analysis, you should always discuss what current community cohesion is as well as any effects on community cohesion. This means division of the community, separation or elimination of services, relocations, business effects, noise or air quality effects, parks and recreation effects. If your project would affect the livability of the community, it probably will affect the community cohesion. There is a good description of community cohesion in the Environmental Procedures Manual Glossary B. The economic (pdf 58 kb) decision matrix may also help you understand all the social effects, since economic effects can also affect a community.
Should social and EJ be separate discipline reports?
It is easier for the reviewer, if you incorporate the environmental justice analysis into the social analysis in your environmental document. If you prepare two separate reports, you will find a great deal of repetition between them, since so much of the information is the same. Do make sure whichever approach you use that the reader can understand how you arrived at the conclusions. Since many things affect the human environment, you will need to include cross references to information on noise, air toxics, recreation, public involvement, economics, relocation and sometimes transportation. Since, you will need all this information to do your analysis, whether social and EJ are combined or separate documents, both reports should scheduled for late in the environmental documentation process when information from the other documents is available.
Should I consider combining other related disciplines with social?
Since doing a comprehensive social analysis requires reference to other related disciplines, it is a natural for a combined discipline report. Most common is a combination with economic and environmental justice. You may also find public services and utilities, visual and parks and recreation combined with social. For assistance with environmental justice refer to the EJ web page, the Environmental Procedures Manual and the EJ decision matrix (pdf 64 kb) and template (pdf 56 kb). For assistance with economics refer to the Environmental Procedures Manual and the economics decision matrix (pdf 58 kb) and template (pdf 53 kb).
How should I define the study area?
You should define your social study area to be large enough to include most of the direct and indirect effects, which would potentially affect the social environment (i.e.: noise, relocations). Usually, you should use ½ mile from centerline. You may want to make adjustments to include complete neighborhoods. Consider census block groups, neighborhoods and natural geographical divisions when you set your study area boundaries. A study area for environmental justice should always be the same as for social. Illustrate the study area by using maps in your document. Your readers will find that a map that overlays the study area, demographics and social resources such as schools, churches and social services very helpful.
Why do I need to collect demographics?
There are two reasons for collecting demographics:
- To determine if there are potentially affected populations within the study area.
- To support the projects' public involvement plan -- you need to know who you are communicating with in order to determine the best means of communication (e.g.: this may identify translation needs or determine specific methods that you can use to distribute information).
What should I include in the demographics?
Your demographics should include minorities, low-income, disabled, limited English proficient and elderly at a minimum. You also might want to include data on car ownership which would show transit dependency, owners and renters, and age distribution, income levels, employment status, and other special sub-populations (e.g.: Section 8 housing, and immigrants. Include any data that will help you to "paint a picture" of the community.
For more information on how to define minority and low-income refer to the EJ frequently asked questions.
You can use these demographics to improve your public involvement plan, as well as for your social and EJ analysis.
How detailed should I make the demographics?
Your detail needs to be enough to determine what populations are in the project area and what the effects on them could be. Census tracts are too large. Generally, you should use the smallest geographic unit for which data is available. This would usually be the block or block group level. Since not all information is available at the block level, for consistency sake, using block groups is usually best. However, block level data can give some valuable information so don't completely ignore it. For instance, block level data might show a concentration of a specific ethnic population. This information might change the type of outreach you would do in that area and probably where you would locate it.
How do I involve the community and keep them involved?
After getting some idea of who your public is by using data sources like the US Census, you should meet with community, neighborhood and civic groups to find out more about them: how they communicate, their interests, and how you can best involve them. Do not assume that your public involvement will be successful if all you do is the usual public open house meetings. Get creative, but take your clues from the community. By meeting with community leaders and social service organizations, you can learn how best to communicate with differing groups of people and gather a wealth of information at the same time. Early, continuous and inclusive involvement helps gain confidence, build trust and decrease any controversy. If people feel that you are truly listening to their needs and concerns early enough in the process that it can make a difference, you will gain a lot of support.
A good resource is FHWA's “Public Involvement Techniques for Transportation Decision Making”. This manual lists techniques and strategies for effective public involvement. This manual does not include newer methods such as the use of social networking sites. Although use of the Internet is a very effective way of reaching large numbers of people, it should only be one of many communication tools you employ. There still are many people who do not have Internet access nor use social networking sites.
How do I convey technical information to non-technical people?
One good way is to pretend you are talking or writing to a neighbor or a relative.
Some tips:
- Stay away from acronyms.
- Use visuals when possible.
- Avoid technical terms. If you cannot find another word or phrase in place of the term, then footnote the word (or phrase) and give an explanation.
- Use relatively short sentences.
- Be clear about your message.
- Use the active voice. It's more direct and concise than the passive voice.
- Write short sections and separate them with headings.
NOTE: You may need to write some legal requirements in a certain way i.e.: ADA statement or legal notices.
What about Reader-Friendly and Plain Talk requirements?
WSDOT published the Reader-Friendly Document Tool Kit in 2005. We have updated it on a regular basis. That same year, we asked that environmental documents, (EISs and EAs) be prepared in the Reader-Friendly format. We do not require that technical reports use the Reader Friendly format. However, clear, concise writing (Plain Talk) is required for all environmental documents. If the summary of the technical report uses the Reader-Friendly format, you can easily transfer it to the larger environmental document. If you use the standards in Appendix A (pdf 340 kb) in the Reader-Friendly Tool Kit to format discipline reports and technical memos, they will be easier to transfer to the EIS or EA without a great deal of editing.
WSDOT employees should also use the Communications Manual on our Intranet. It emphasizes the importance of Plain Talk and is consistent with Reader-Friendly as well.
What should I include in my public involvement plan and how should I track it?
Your public involvement plan should identify whom to involve, what needs to be done to involve the public, where you will hold any meetings, a timeline for when activities will take place, how you will use strategies to involve the affected public, and a budget. Consider your project schedule and budget constraints. In addition, you should address regulatory requirements such as limited English proficiency, use of Title VI forms, and ADA.
Make sure you:
- Retain copies of all meeting materials, press releases, public materials such as brochures or websites, traffic to the website, responses to surveys, public comment from all contacts. Record any targeted outreach done. Document as much content as possible from your public meetings and summarize any issues.
- Include in your meeting summaries such things as the purpose of the meeting, number of attendees, whether attendees were reflective of the local community, minority composition as known, whether you used interpreters, any action items, issues discussed, and lessons learned.
The project team also should set up a tracking system early in the project to track comments and responses, including responses and who responded. The system you use should enable you to identify issues so you can track them and evaluate your process.
Should we conduct surveys?
Sometimes you will find a survey is an appropriate tool. Other times other tools may be more effective. The methods you use to communicate with people and gather information about the community will vary from project to project. Using a survey is an excellent way to obtain information about people who are not likely to attend or to speak out in a public workshop. Surveys can be written or oral interviews. You can do surveys with businesses (pdf 734 kb), service providers (pdf 23 kb) or directly with their clients.
How does a public involvement plan relate to social analysis?
For a social analysis, you need information from public involvement. It is through public involvement that you can really understand who you are affecting and how. This information will enrich your social analysis by helping you to understand the communities the project will affect including how cohesive they are. Depending on how you are incorporating your social analysis and the public involvement plan into the environmental document, provide in your social document:
- A brief summary of the project's outreach strategies to the community.
- A summary of results of outreach efforts to the community, and
- Cross reference sections of the document where this information can be found.
You should mention any targeted outreach done as well as its results. The community can help to define whether an effect is adverse or not and give ideas for mitigation. If listened to early in the process, they may have creative ideas that will help create a better project. These ideas can provide valuable information for your social analysis. In most cases, you would not include individual comments in your document.
Since limited English proficient individuals may not be low-income or minority, include that documentation in the larger context of the social analysis not the environmental justice analysis. If you translated documents, that should be mentioned.
What if we need help with translations or need an interpreter?
Refer to our webpage on limited English proficiency if you need help determining if you should provide translations or interpreters. You will also find resources for translators and interpreters.
Should we change the public involvement plan?
Yes. The public involvement plan should be a living document. As you learn more about the affected community, adjust your strategies to ensure they are inclusive and appropriate to the community. If workshop attendance is not reflective of the community, you should evaluate and consider changing your outreach strategies. You may need to do targeted outreach to make sure that you include individuals who normally might not participate due to language or cultural differences.
Evaluate your public involvement methods periodically to determine if you need to change your plan. Ask the following questions.
- Is the entire project community participating in public involvement activities?
- Are you employing the appropriate communication techniques?
- Are community comments relevant to the project? Are they realistic and appropriate to the project phase?
- Are there significant unresolved issues on the project?
What type of documentation do we need?
For each alternative, you need to clearly explain any previous avoidance and minimization relating to social effects as well as any proposed mitigation and enhancement measures.
Document the strategies taken to avoid, reduce, or mitigate effects to community cohesion, relocations, noise and other adverse effects the community may experience. The discussion of these strategies should be clearly ‘linked' to the associated community effects. Discuss any benefits received by the community. For instance, if there will be sidewalks added, bus pullouts or pedestrian safety features, make sure you mention them as benefits to the affected community. Discuss how those who are affected will benefit from the project. Don't just list general project benefits.
If the affected community helped develop any of the alternatives, enhancements or mitigation, summarize that in your document.
Doing a Social Analysis
Where does the process start?
Although you may find some information gathered by planners useful, you will do most of your groundwork as you develop the scope of work for the project. You will need to start with some basic questions:
- Should the social and EJ analysis be one or separate discipline studies? Are the potential effects so minor or non-existent that you can use a letter to file (pdf 183 kb) to document effects instead? Does it make sense to include any other related areas, such as economics, public services and utilities, relocations etc? To help you come to this decision, see the decision matrices: Economic matrix (pdf 58 kb), social matrix (pdf 66 kb), environmental justice matrix (pdf 64 kb).
- What data will I need for the analysis and what will my sources be?
What are the basic components of conducting a social analysis?
- Describe the proposed Project.
- State why you are doing the analysis. Include applicable laws and regulations.
- Determine and discuss how you will conduct the analysis.
- Identify the study area for your analysis.
- Identify the study area's demographics. (Make sure you use at least two data sources.)
- Describe the affected area including current community cohesion. Identify important social resources, such as community gathering places, religious institutions, schools, service agencies.
- Document the public outreach process.
- Identify and compare anticipated effects on the community including the no build.
- Summarize effects, both adverse and beneficial.
- Determine the anticipated effect on the community especially effects on cohesion.
- Identify any appropriate mitigation/enhancements.
- Document your data sources.
The economic (pdf 53 kb), social (pdf 53 kb) and environmental justice (pdf 56 kb) discipline report templates provide an easy way to cover most of this needed information.
What methodology should I use to conduct a social analysis?
Tailor your specific approach to the unique circumstances of each project and those affected by it. Your methodology should be consistent with the information on these webpages and WSDOT's Environmental Procedures Manual's (EPM) guidance on social and EJ, as well as with agreements with project partners (i.e., transit agencies, MPOs, cities, etc). The EPM and these webpages provide a consistent framework for both preparing an analysis and effective public involvement strategies. Our methodology in these webpages and the EPM is consistent with FHWA guidance.
What type of data should I gather?
For a social analysis, you need at least two kinds of demographic information. Gather data on minorities, including Hispanic, low-income, disabled, elderly and limited English proficient. Sometimes it is valuable to look at households without cars, since it will indicate numbers of transit dependent. Include any other similar data sets that will help to "paint a picture" of the affected communities. Also, gather demographic information on the areas just outside the study area. Nearby demographic data has more meaning than city or county data. Don't bother to include state demographics.
You may find after gathering information on the affected communities, that there are a number of new immigrants from countries such as Romania, who would not necessarily fit into an environmental justice "category" of low-income or minority. Do not ignore this data, since it will be helpful for customizing your public involvement and identifying translation needs as well as enabling you to describe the affected community for your social analysis.
Remember to use the term "minority" and not "race" since Hispanics can be any race. When you gather information, exclude children or your numbers will be unrealistically large.
There has been a lot of discussion on how to best identify limited English proficient populations. When using the 5% or 1,000 or more threshold, remember the intent of the LEP executive order is to be inclusive of all. If you need specifics on how to gather data for LEP, review the Limited English Proficiency page on the left side of this page.
What data sources should I use?
You need to answer: What are the populations within your study area? Use census data to start. Since detailed Census Data is only gathered every 10 years, also examine other data sources that could help determine the existence of populations within the study areas (e.g. public school data, social service agency data).
- We recommend using the following Summary file 3 Census block group data at a minimum: P-41 Disability, P-6 Race,
P-7 Hispanic or Latino, P-8 Sex by age, P 22 Year of entry of foreign born, and P 87 Poverty status by age.
- You can use the WSDOT GIS Work Bench and the US Census Data Engine to analyze Census data.
- Not all data is available at all levels. Use census block group data since all data you need is available at that level. Block group data on minority can help you to gather more specific information.
How do I gather demographic data?
The US Census website can be difficult to navigate. If you need help, use our guidance (pdf 21 kb). We recommend using the demographic data (pdf 18 kb) from National Center for Education Statistics for a second data source. You can also gather information from the Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction website to get a better picture of the schools in the area.
Next, you need to determine what the cohesion of the community is. Although you can extract some of this information from data, a drive through the community is essential as are conversations with the community.
What is community cohesion and how do I measure it?
Community cohesion is the ability of people to communicate and interact with each other in ways that lead to a sense of community, as reflected in the neighborhood’s ability to function and be recognized as a singular unit. To determine the cohesion of the community, you need to look at many factors. How walkable is the community? Are there sidewalks, safe crosswalks, traffic calming that slows traffic? How transient is the neighborhood? The number of rentals does not necessarily determine the cohesiveness of a neighborhood if the turnover is low. Are there community-gathering places such as pocket parks, local coffee shops or community centers that enable neighbors to get to know each other? Are there community events? All of these are factors in determining the cohesiveness of a community. Your description of community cohesion, will help "paint a picture" of the affected area. Later in your effects section, when you describe how cohesion will be affected, the reader will understand how the "picture" will change for the local community.
Determine if cohesion is high, medium or low based the above factors and your best judgment. You will need to determine how the project will affect cohesion by looking at how the project will affect each factor. For instance, will the project add sidewalks or crosswalks? If so, it will improve safety and improve cohesion. Will noise levels increase appreciably? If so, it will degrade cohesion.
Does a social analysis focus only on residential effects?
A social analysis includes more than residential effects. At the very least, you will need to look at how changes in businesses and social resources might affect the community. Will the project relocate a business that supplies an important service or product to the local neighborhood? Will the project affect religious institutions or social services? If so, you need to document those effects in the social analysis.
What if my project only has business effects, do I have to discuss cohesion?
No, you do not need to discuss cohesion or effects on cohesion if there are no residential effects. However if your project would divide or separate an adjacent unaffected residential area(s) from businesses or services, make sure you discuss that. If not, then say so in your document so the reader will know there is no new division or separation.
How should we display demographics?
A visual display of study area demographics is the most useful. Maps are also very useful during outreach. Visuals can help identify effects in relation to the surrounding community. The reader will gain a lot of information from an overlay of where social resources are located and the study area.
How do we integrate demographics into a public involvement plan?
Demographic analysis should be part of the foundation upon which your public involvement plan is developed. For environmental justice purposes, your demographic analysis should include minorities and low-income. For the rest of your social analysis, you should include other pertinent elements like English proficiency, income, disabilities, age, employment status, transit dependency etc. These demographics will not only help with public involvement, but will contribute to your project's social impact assessment.
You need to know “who” you will be talking with to determine the best means of communicating with them (e.g.: this may identify translation needs, cultural traditions to be aware of, specific communication methods that community may use). Personalize the public involvement plan with the results.
Do we need to coordinate between discipline reports?
Yes. The writer of the social analysis needs to coordinate with other related disciplines to obtain important information on how the project will affect people. The most important part of your document will be the effects section. To clearly understand how the project will affect people, you will need information from those related disciplines. Most commonly, those disciplines are relocations, EJ and economics (if separate), noise, air quality, transportation, parks and recreation and public utilities. You may also need to review cultural resources, visual and hazardous materials reports. Do not complete your social or environmental justice analysis until information from these other areas is available or you will not be able to give a complete picture of how the project will affect the human environment.
Do we need ongoing coordination with public involvement?
Yes. As the public submits comments, you should track and distribute these comments to the correct technical person on the project team, and address them appropriately. These comments will help you to understand how the community is affected and give you insight into potential mitigation measures, benefits, and enhancements.
As you develop your technical reports, you need to determine whom the proposed project will affect and create a dialogue with them. Work with your public involvement coordinator. This work may help refine your demographics in those potentially affected areas. For instance, if census data shows an Asian population, information from outreach should help you to identify whether they are Cambodian, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc.
How should I determine appropriate avoidance, minimization, mitigation and enhancement measures?
Along with the recommendation from technical recommendations, information from public outreach can be very effective in determining the most appropriate avoidance, minimization, mitigation and enhancement measures. For instance, a senior community may prefer wider sidewalks rather than a bike lane. Consider this an opportunity to help "tweak" the project to better fit community needs. For more information on context sensitive solutions see the WSDOT Understanding Flexibility in Transportation Design.
What kind of documentation do I need to do?
Supply enough documentation to support your finding. This may involve cross-referencing other reports, summarizing analysis, and providing maps or tables. How you document your finding will be partially dependent on how you structure your analysis – as a separate discipline study, or combined.
Below is a list of things that one would expect to see in a social analysis. By no means is this an all-inclusive list, nor does this mean that a social discipline report shouldn't be combined with other disciplines. It is a good candidate for a combined discipline report.
The amount and type of documentation done for a discipline report will vary according to its level of complexity. A good rule of thumb is to do more documentation than you think is necessary. Err on the side of more documentation, not less. More documentation should not mean longer documents. It means that the writer clearly and concisely explains the affected environment, who is affected, how and where effects will be felt. The reader should be able to understand how the writer reached a conclusion. One of the most common reasons that NEPA documents are found legally insufficient is the failure to show how conclusions were reached.
Project Description
- Describe briefly the project, its purpose, need, and location.
- Describe the type of environmental document (EIS, EA, DCE, etc.) being developed for the project
Regulations, Methods and Coordination
- Document that the analysis is being done in accordance with appropriate laws, regulations, and guidance
- Document data sources and methods.
- Document outreach strategy.
- Describe outreach efforts results (issues, LEP, attendance, responses, etc.).
- Document community perception (+/-) of effects/benefits and severity.
- Document community perception of suitability of mitigation proposed.
- Describe methods used to overcome potential outreach barriers such as use of interpreters, materials in other languages, and specific outreach due to cultural differences.
- Summarize any changes to outreach to improve participation
Affected Environment
- Describe the study area and the rationale for its boundary. Describe the areas surrounding the study area.
- Describe affected neighborhoods and current community cohesion. Include demographics. Describe any past effects such as a prior division of the community or other actions that have affected the community.
Effects and Benefits Analysis
- Document the effects of each alternative, including No-Build on the social elements.
- Describe any adverse effects on the social environment including any changes to community cohesion.
- Discuss alternatives that avoid, minimize, or mitigate such effects.
- Describe any offsetting benefits.
- Describe appropriate avoidance, minimization, mitigation and enhancement measures.
- Summarize effects on the affected community with supporting evidence.
Use the social decision matrix (pdf 66 kb) and discipline report template (pdf 53 kb) as reference or instead of this list. You will find some minor differences between the above list, and the template. Each report should be right-sized for the particular project and the effects from that project. This adjustment may alter the outline you use for the discipline report. We have matrices and templates for economics and environmental justice, if you need them. You can find them on the site index on the WSDOT Environment page.
When I fill out a State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) checklist, how do I address any social or economic effects?
You should always include any information you consider important to document for your project on the SEPA checklist. You can create a new category for social, economic or environmental justice. Make sure that you clearly describe project effects on social and economic elements and environmental justice populations. Effects should be the focus not demographics.