Expert System Architecture for Computer-Aided Environmental Analysis

Expert systems can be useful tools to assist and guide practitioners through particularly difficult and complex decision-making environments. The process of assessing the requirements and conceptualizing an expert system architecture for the New York State Department of Transportation to enhance its environmental analysis functions is described. Using expert system techniques presents a proactive and innovative approach to systematize and improve the environmental process within transportation design. Among the system’s objectives are to treat effectively the logic and inference process associated with the breadth and depth of environmental analysis resource areas, promote compliance with federal and state environmental requirements, enhance project management through estimating staff resources, and be responsive to the needs of multiple user classes to include environmental staff, designers, planners, and managers.