When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Denise Rigney and Dominique Lueckenhoff convened a meeting in 2002 with officials from the Federal Highway Administration, state transportation departments, highway construction advocates and a few private firms, there was some wariness. “There were a few folks leery about whether this will [lead to] regulation,” says Rigney. Not so: “We are looking for solutions across the universe of transportation activities” to achieve greener highways, says Lueckenhoff. Both women in EPA’s Region 3 office in Philadelphia are charged with protecting watersheds.

That was the start of the Green Highways Partnership, a fledgling mid-Atlantic regional effort to benchmark practices and projects. The ultimate goal is to leave a net-positive impact from highway construction—environmentally, socially and economically.