Transcon has a thriving sector involving performing cultural surveys on historic highways, monitoring for adverse effects on active prairie dog colonies, performing mitigation measures to prevent take of desert tortoises, NEPA document preparation, conducting biological assessments, sensitive species surveys and analysis for ESA-listed species including tortoise and prairie dogs, wetland and Waters of the U.S. delineations and permit prep, among other services. We understand the challenges that infrastructure projects face, one of which is that being long and linear in nature, they often cross multiple different land jurisdictions. Transcon has experience working with almost every federal environmental agency and multiple Departments of Transportation, and we are always expanding anywhere highways can travel.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Rawlins Field Office was tasked with managing a large portion of multiple alignments of the Lincoln Highway, America’s first transcontinental automobile route. Transcon was retained to ensure that all portions of the Lincoln Highway were recorded in a concise, accurate, and identical manner and that recommendations of contribution are determined using the same criteria. A total of 157 segments within 4 sites were redesignated and evaluated. Together, these cover 578.1 miles, and approximately 53 percent of the segments are recommended contributing elements of the Lincoln Highway.

The State Route 9 (SR-9) Road Improvement projects are a group of road construction projects stretching from Interstate 15 through Hurricane, Utah to Zion National Park. The projects consisted of the construction of passing lanes and road resurfacing from 2016 to 2019. Transcon conducted USFWS protocol-level surveys for sensitive and federally-listed species in support of the development of Biological Evaluations and Biological Assessments (BAs). We also conducted migratory bird and raptor nest surveys along several sections of SR-9. Transcon also delineated a few wetlands and the ordinary highwater for the Virgin River and all streams within the project areas and completed preliminary aquatic resources delineation reports. For the cultural portions of the projects, Transcon conducted literature reviews and Class III surveys, drafted Cultural Resource Inventory Reports, created historic documentation pamphlets and booklets, and performed construction monitoring.

Transcon has an on-call contract with the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) to provide biological and cultural resource support on transportation projects. Since 2014, Transcon has provided National Environmental Policy Act support and conducted biological and cultural surveys, cultural reports, BAs, jurisdictional water assessment, wetland delineations, environmental awareness training, and compliance monitoring on numerous UDOT road construction/road maintenance projects. In support of these projects, Transcon conducted protocol surveys and habitat assessments for various federally-listed species and pre-construction raptor surveys for several projects. Transcon’s experience and relationship with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists helped UDOT establish new monitoring protocols and mitigation measures that led to less on-site monitoring for sensitive species during construction, thereby reducing overall project costs. Transcon also conducted Utah prairie dog surveys in support of required mitigation as part of a compensatory mitigation agreement with USFWS.

Biological services

Categorical Exclusions

Cultural resources services

Environmental training

GIS

Grave marker monitoring

Paleontological services

Plans of Development

Utah prairie dog survey and monitoring

Public scoping

Raptor surveys

Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans

Wetland assessment

Waters of the U.S. reporting

Utah Department of Transportation

Brian Head Town

Brennan Holdings, LLC

Bureau of Land Management

Civil Science, Inc.

Ely Shoshone Tribe

Frank Nichols Development Corporation

Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc.

H.W. Lochner, Inc.

Lochner Engineering

Mainline Engineering

Mott MacDonald Consultants

Project Engineering Consultants

Sunrise Engineering

Utah Department of Transportation

WW Clyde and Co.