"TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 741: Evaluation of Methodologies for Visual Impact Assessments evaluates visual impact assessment (VIA) procedures, methods, and practices that satisfy or exceed National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other requirements. The report documents VIA methodologies and approaches used in the United States and other countries, describes the decision making framework used to select specific VIA techniques for a given project, includes VIA best practice case studies from state departments of transportation, and highlights promising new developments in the field."--pub. desc.

This report provides information on new initiatives that federal and state agencies are using to expedite environmental reviews and includes recommendations that could help further expedite those reviews. In addition, the report includes available information that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and state highway agencies (the states) have generated on the costs of environmental mitigation.