A PEL study’s most pointed goals are to minimize duplication of efforts, streamline the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process, and ultimately shorten the entire life cycle of a transportation project by combining the planning and environmental processes, and providing a focus on environmental resources and community concerns before the NEPA process even begins. The information from this study is also intended to give North Slope Leadership and residents the information necessary to determine if this project should move forward with the NEPA process. 

Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) is a collaborative and integrated approach to transportation decision-making that:

1. Improves outreach and coordination by considering environmental, community, and      economic goals early in the planning process.
2. Saves costs and time; focuses expenditures on viable options.

The benefits of a PEL Study can include:

• Stronger agency and public relationships: Regulatory and resource agencies are involved early. Collaborative working relationships with the public support more involvement and opportunities.
• Improved project delivery timelines: The PEL process can avoid duplication of effort and speed up project delivery.
• Earlier identification of key environmental resources: Knowing which resources are      present can help alternative selection and save time and money by moving forward alternatives that minimize impacts to environmental resources and the built environment.
• Better funding and project development: Engineering team involvement produces more reliable cost estimates and project schedules.
• Build projects with better outcomes: Knowledge of agency and community concerns help developers design projects that better serve the community’s needs.
• Flexible approach for development of transportation improvement strategies: The PEL Study can propose solutions to develop a series of smaller independent, fundable projects      that can be implemented over time while fitting within a larger or longer-term context.