This article discusses problems that occur when the federal government wants to replace a smaller road or bridge in your community with a bigger road or bridge. In particular, it addresses what happens when the community does not want a new bridge or roadway, but the federal DOT is insistent nonetheless. It will discuss the games and untruths that the government will rely on to shove the project down the community’s throat.

Here is the problem. Many roadways, and especially bridges, need some repair work. States often lack the resource, so they tap into federal money. The feds are often more interested in complete replacements, using ugly, "one size fits all" structures, that may be completely out of harmony with local needs and local history.

If the local authorities ask for federal assistance to accomplish this, remember the old proverb," there is no free lunch." When the feds enter the picture with their money, be careful; when the feds come to town, its often their way, or no highway.

If the bridge of whatever is being repaired or replaced is historically significant, federal law requires the government to prepare a formal report on the historic or cultural value of the original road or bridge, and develop plans for addressing this issue.

These reports are often legally required. My advice to you: read them carefully. In my view, and the view of many others, they are often hastily prepared , with what appears to be a pre-conceived outcome. Read the reports for yourself and determine if the federal government’s evaluation of the historic value of a roadway or bridge makes sense based on what you know of the local area. There is a good chance it will not.

Also, these projects also often require an evaluation of environmental impacts caused by the work that will be done as well as the long term impact . Again, read these reports. Often they make no sense –seemingly hiding what are otherwise obvious environmental impacts. This is another trick that Washington uses to shove these out of character federal highway bridges and roadways down our throats.

Public outreach hearings are usually required when the projects are being proposed. The idea is supposed to be to involve the community. Watch out for what the government may pass off as a community outreach meeting. Often the meetings are poorly advertised, with agendas that do not adequately inform the public of the proposed meeting content. They may be planned for a bad day of the week – or at a time when objectors will likely be unavailable.

And when these outreach meetings do occur, there is often no meaningful outreach at all. Rather a government spokesperson brings a fancy power point presentation and tries to scare the community into believing that this is really a "done deal," that cannot be modified by the public.

The road repair and improvement business can indeed be a dirty business, where government officials misinform the public about proposed plans, with the hope that the public guard will be down, only to reveal the truly horrible project, at a belatedly scheduled meeting, with heavy equipment ready to start work located in the back drop.

If your community is threatened with an inappropriate road replacement project:

1. Obtain all documents using public access laws. And update your requests often to catch later submissions.
2. Form a citizen group and assign tasks to members. Tasks should include, fund raising for lawyers and experts, ongoing dialogue with the community members and politicians, review of plans including last minute plan amendments, and press communications.
3. While the government will do whatever it can to speed through an entirely inappropriate highway project, the group needs to put the brakes on it so that answers can be obtained for necessary questions.
4. Become active in the process as early as possible. The longer the group waits to become involved, the more likely that review deadlines will pass, making it even harder to change bad proposals.
5. Do what you can to educate the community and local leaders. The big agencies that try to ruin our communities with inappropriate highway projects depend on local ignorance. That must be successfully combated.
6. File lawsuits to ensure that all of the bad decisions are reviewed by objective judges and reviewing members of the executive branches.

Our federal government seems to not understand this point. Community members must come out in large numbers to convince the government that replacement is not always the right answer. While you can fight and win, these battles take time, resources and dedication.

The information provided in this column is written by Stuart Lieberman,a practicing environmental attorney, and is for general information purposes only. It is not legal advice and should not be used in place of legal advice.

Stuart Lieberman, Esq., and IRED.Com, Inc., will not accept any responsibilty for any reliance on the information in this column or any damages whatsoever resulting from reading this column.