skip to main content
US DOT logo United States Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration

More Transportation Agencies across the U.S. Using INVEST

Transportation agencies across the United States are using INVEST to evaluate and improve the sustainability of their projects and programs. The map below shows the locations of active or recently completed INVEST projects while the table below provides a brief description for each project, listed alphabetically by state. More detailed information on some of the projects is available on the case studies section of the website and additional case studies will be added continuously.

Please note: This list is not comprehensive. Since usage of the online tool is confidential, FHWA is only aware of INVEST projects when agencies inform us they are using the tool. If your agency is using INVEST and would like to be included on the list, please contact sustainablehighways@dot.gov.

Map of the U.S., showing the locations of INVEST Usage using circles color-coded by agency type and listed in the table below. A box to the right of the map is titled 'INVEST Usage By the Numbers,' and contains the following information - 'Entitities that have informed FHWA they are using INVEST (Since usage of the tool is confidential, we only know names of those entities that have informed us.) 15 state DOTS, 16 MPOS, 23 Federal Lands Units, 5 other transportation agencies in the U.S. (local, transit, tollway), and 1 foreign government. Website statistics: > 1500 registered users and > 1600 projects or programs evaluated'
State Agency Location Project Description
Multiple Federal Lands Highway Multiple Federal Lands Highway recently initiated or completed INVEST evaluations on 28 transportation projects and programs on national parks, wildlife refuges, national forests, and other federal lands across the country. Federal Lands Highway is using INVEST to improve sustainability in a number of ways: The Western Division uses the INVEST project development module to select the recipient of its Annual Sustainability Award and to pinpoint areas where the agency can make programmatic adjustments to processes, maximizing sustainability improvements. The Eastern Division is working with managers at multiple wildlife refuges in Maryland and Virginia to improve operations and maintenance practices. The Central Division used INVEST to evaluate the sustainability of the Halstead Meadow Bridge project in Sequoia National Park. That project replaced roadway fill with a bridge, restoring the ecology of the meadow by restoring water flow that had been blocked by the fill.
AZ Arizona DOT Statewide Arizona DOT is using the INVEST operations and maintenance module to evaluate and improve the sustainability of their statewide operations and maintenance program.
AZ Arizona DOT Statewide Arizona DOT is using INVEST's Project Development module to conduct an assessment of its statewide roundabout program. Particular criteria that Arizona plans to examine further include: green infrastructure and low-impact development, bike and pedestrian mobility, and context sensitive solutions. This effort includes data gathering, focus group input, INVEST tool training seminars, local government participation, and scoring multiple roundabout projects using the INVEST tool.
CA California DOT (Caltrans) Statewide CalTrans is exploring potential uses of INVEST and how it could benefit the planning, programming, and maintenance of the California state highway system.
CA Riverside County Transportation Commission Riverside County The Commission used the INVEST criteria to help develop a sustainability management plan.
CA Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) Southern California SCAG plans to evaluate the existing transportation plan for southern California using INVEST and make improvements to the next plan based on the evaluation.
CA Transportation Agency for Monterey County Monterey County Monterrey County is using the INVEST System Planning module to evaluate and enhance sustainability in improvements being made to the US-101 Corridor.
DC District of Columbia Department of Transportation Multiple The District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT) plans to use the INVEST Project Development module to evaluate several projects coming through the pipeline in the nation's capital. The agency is customizing the tool to focus on those criteria where they have the most potential to improve sustainability. Earlier, DDOT piloted the INVEST tool on the 11th Street Bridges project, connecting communities across the Anacostia River and boasting sustainability features such as maximizing stormwater management in a limited footprint and providing seamless pedestrian access.
DE Delaware DOT (DelDOT) Statewide DelDOT will evaluate maintenance paving projects using related INVEST criteria.
GA Valdosta-Lowndes MPO Valdosta Valdosta-Lowndes MPO is using select criteria from the INVEST system planning module to help improve sustainability practices in their planning processes.
IA Des Moines MPO Des Moines Des Moines MPO is using INVEST in the update of its long range transportation plan, due in 2014.
IL Illinois Tollway Chicago The Illinois Tollway is using all three INVEST modules. The tollway is using the project development module to assess the sustainability of a set of 18 completed transportation projects in order to set a baseline. Next, the tollway is evaluating and improving 8 in-progress projects that are part of the tollway's fifteen-year, $12 billion capital program. Finally, the tollway is using the system planning module to evaluate its long range planning and capital program development processes, and the operations and maintenance module to evaluate and improve the operations and maintenance program.
IL Springfield MPO Springfield Using INVEST criteria, the metropolitan planning organization for Springfield, IL developed a conceptual design showing locations for specific sustainability improvements that could be made along a section of the historic Route 66 corridor. Planners communicated INVEST criteria effectively and concisely through a visual format.
IN Indianapolis MPO Indianapolis The Indianapolis MPO plans to use INVEST for its long range transportation plan update.
KY Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Multiple The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) sponsored University of Kentucky researchers to analyze three highway projects in the state using INVEST on a trial basis. The researchers found that the three projects met the bronze level of sustainability with INVEST and identified additional practices that could bring similar projects up to a platinum level of sustainability at modest cost. KYTC is researching the use of INVEST on three additional highway projects.
MA Cape Cod Commission Hyannis The Cape Cod Commission used the INVEST system planning module to inform the development of their regional transportation plan and the project development module to guide decision-making on transportation projects in the Hyannis Access Plan.
MA Massachusetts DOT (MassDOT) Statewide MassDOT is using the INVEST project development module to evaluate the Casey Arborway Project, which will replace a 1950s era elevated highway with an at-grade roadway with strong pedestrian connectivity. MassDOT is also using the INVEST operations and maintenance module criteria OM1-OM4 to evaluate its state-wide operations and maintenance program. Through work with INVEST, MassDOT will identify sustainability action items and draft sustainability engineering directives/standard operating procedures.
ME Kittery Area Comprehensive Transportation System (KACTS) Portsmouth KACTS used INVEST to score their 2010 long range transportation plan. KATC then used the results in the development of their next plan. KACTS used a subgroup of policy committee members and the public to conduct the scoring.
MO Greater St. Joseph Area MPO St. Joseph The St. Joseph area is using the INVEST system planning module in the update of their transportation plan.
MT Montana DOT Statewide Montana DOT will evaluate the agency's operations and maintenance practices using INVEST criteria OM-2 through OM-4, conduct benefit cost analysis on current Montana DOT practices in these areas, and survey other states regarding their practices. Montana DOT will then develop recommendations for a sustainability plan.
OH Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) Cleveland NOACA, the metropolitan planning organization for Cleveland, OH, will use the INVEST operations and maintenance module to evaluate the effectiveness of NOACA's regional safety program, improve NOACA's data analysis and reporting, and produce a transportation safety action plan.
OH Ohio DOT (ODOT) Cleveland INVEST helped ODOT improve the sustainability of the largest project in ODOT history, the replacement of the Cleveland Innerbelt Bridge on I-90, now called the George V. Voinovich Bridge. ODOT used the pilot version of INVEST to score the first phase to see if the project was meeting its goals. ODOT found the process so valuable, that for the second phase of the project, the agency stipulated in its request for proposals that the contractor use INVEST to demonstrate sustainability and commit to achieving a certain number of points. This provided a strong incentive for bidders to incorporate sustainability while keeping costs competitive. In fact, the winning bidder committed to achieve a Platinum INVEST rating and bid $19 million below the ODOT official engineering estimate.
OR Lane Transit Eugene Lane Transit is using INVEST to help the agency evaluate its level of sustainability.
OR TriMet Portland TriMet used the INVEST project development and operations and maintenance modules to improve and enhance the sustainability of the Portland to Milwaukie Light Rail Transit Project. Based on a gap analysis, TriMet completed five additional analyses to earn additional points, including under PD-24 Contractor Warranty, PD-25 Construction Environmental Training, PD-26 Construction Equipment Emission Reduction, PD-28 Construction Quality Control Plan, PD-29 Construction Waste Management, and OM-6 Environmental Compliance Tracking System.
PA Pennsylvania DOT Statewide PennDOT will use all fourteen INVEST operations and maintenance criteria plus SP14 - Transportation Systems Management & Operations, to evaluate and improve sustainability practice.
RI Rhode Island DOT Multiple Rhode Island DOT (RIDOT) applied the INVEST Project Development module, using multiple scorecards, retrospectively to a segment of a new bike path project. This 2-mile section (Segment 4) is part of the new, 21-mile long bikeway in the Blackstone River Valley. The project scored well on context sensitive development, habitat restoration, and site vegetation. RIDOT plans to use the tool retrospectively on additional projects of varying scope that are common in their program, to help determine the best way to institutionalize INVEST prospectively into their project development processes. RIDOT's next project is a pavement preservation and livable community project in a historic downtown area. New RIDOT initiatives, such as using warm mix asphalt and moving toward requiring a quality control plan by the contractor, should improve the sustainability of future projects.
SC South Carolina DOT Columbia South Carolina DOT is using INVEST on the Carolina Crossroads project, which will improve the interchange where three Interstate highways converge. The project will use INVEST early in project development during development of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in order to maximize sustainability improvements.
TX Alamo Area MPO San Antonio Alamo Area MPO scored their 2035 Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) with INVEST and used the information from that evaluation to make recommendations on key issues to include in the 2040 MTP chapters.
TX Bryan-College Station MPO Bryan, TX Bryan-College Station MPO is planning to use the INVEST to evaluate the current 2040 MTP as part of its efforts to develop and update the 2045 MTP update.
TX North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) Dallas NCTCOG is using INVEST to evaluate their existing long range transportation plan and use this information in development of the next plan. NCTCOG is focusing on improvements in three areas: planning and environment linkages, asset management, and infrastructure resiliency.
TX Texas DOT El Paso Texas DOT's El Paso district used the INVEST 1.0 tool to evaluate the sustainability of the Alameda II project.
UT Utah DOT (UDOT) Statewide UDOT will re-evaluate the state's operations and maintenance program using INVEST 1.0 and compare the results to previous scores. UDOT will determine where improvements (or declines) have occurred, determine the reasons for the changes, determine the effectiveness of previous recommendations, and document findings. UDOT will then evaluate some specific UDOT operations and maintenances practices more in-depth using INVEST to examine opportunities for sustainability improvements. These practices may include snow removal, self-performed chip seals, maintenance of low volume roads, and winter maintenance activities.
WA Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) Seattle PSRC used INVEST in three areas: 1) Transportation 2040 Plan evaluation; 2) asset management; and 3) transportation demand management.
WA Washington DOT (WSDOT) Seattle WSDOT used INVEST to evaluate three corridor planning studies. WSDOT then used the recommendations that came out of the INVEST evaluation to update the guidelines that planners use to develop new corridor planning studies. WSDOT also evaluated the SR 520 Bridge project with INVEST.
International Paraguay Ministry of Public Works Tavai INVEST has also received interest internationally. The Ministry of Public Works for the Republic of Paraguay, working with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on an IDB-funded project, used INVEST to score a 90km road project that passes indigenous communities and wildlife refuges. Paraguay found that their new technical specifications for road projects brought them an increased level of sustainability, but that there was still further to go.