TRANSPORTATION
SummitWest provides multi-disciplinary environmental consulting services transportation projects across California. Our work has included CalTrans support of freeways, highways, and roads and interchanges, grades, and bridges. We bring extensive experience providing environmental services in a transportation-based analysis context for local, regional, state, and federal agencies and have performed bat surveys and netting, acoustic surveys, endangerged species surveys and exclusions, worker awareness training programs, reporting and provided general council to construction firms.
EXPERIENCE
The SummitWest team and its partners have experience working with transportation agencies in California since 2014.
Our work has supported CalTrans as well as a range of non-CalTrans projects, including highway grading, road widening, and bridge construction.
Our focus is on guiding clients through every step of environmental compliance, so their projects can proceed efficiently and without interruption. We emphasize proactive communication about potential seasonal constraints, such as nesting birds, and keep all parties informed of any permitting or regulatory considerations. By anticipating issues and coordinating closely with agencies, we help clients avoid delays and meet all project requirements.
AGENCY COORDINATION
We recognize the importance of project continuity, which ensures that environmental commitments are effectively carried through each phase of transportation projects—from planning and permitting to design, construction, and maintenance. This continuity minimizes delays, prevents regulatory setbacks, and upholds stakeholder trust by maintaining clear communication and consistent documentation across all project stages. By proactively tracking and integrating environmental obligations, we help our clients avoid costly rework and ensure compliance with federal, state, and local requirements. This approach is especially vital in complex, multi-agency projects where early decisions and commitments must be honored throughout the project lifecycle.
The SummitWest team and its partners have experience working with local, state, and federal transportation agencies.
Federal: Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Authority, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
State: California Department of Transportation, California Regional Water Quality Control Board, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California Coastal Commission
REPRESENTATIVE PROJECTS
STATE ROUTE 241 CONNECTION TO INTERSTATE 5 PROJECT, RARE PLANT SURVEYS
2017. Mission Viejo, California
SummitWest personnel were retained by PSOMAS to perform special status plant surveys, including for thread-leaved brodiaea (Brodiaea filifolia) for the State Route 241 Connection to Interstate 5 Project in Mission Viejo, California (Project). The Project was part of a long-standing effort to extend State Route 241 (SR-241), a toll road operated by the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency (TCA), to connect with Interstate 5 (I-5) in southern Orange County.
CALTRANS FUEL MODIFICATION BOTANICAL SURVEYS
2025. Multiple CalTrans Districts, California
SummitWest, contracted by LSA, provided support services as-needed in the form of botanists and support botanists. Work was focused on identifying and documenting sensitive biological resources—including special-status plants, wildlife, sensitive natural communities, and aquatic resources—along Caltrans rights-of-way and BLM lands across multiple California districts. Daily data deliverables included start and end points, habitat features, phenology, and spatial extents of sensitive resources all entered via customized ArcGIS Field Maps data forms. Supporting materials such as photographs, Work Area Boundary specific floristic inventories and special-status species/incidental wildlife observations were submitted through shared repositories (OneDrive).
CALTRANS, LAGUNA CANYON ROAD EXPANSION PROJECT (STATE ROUTE 133)
2025. Laguna Beach, California
SummitWest, contracted by Rincon Consultants, to provide support services as-needed in the form of a qualified wildlife biologist and biological construction monitor, focused on the detection and protection of nesting birds, Least Bell’s Vireo (Vireo bellii pusillus), coastal California gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica californica), waters resources, and other sensitive biological resources for a road maintenance and directional pruning project on CalTrans land near State Route 133, Laguna Beach, California. Deliverables included daily compliance monitoring logs, digital forms for pre-construction surveys and new species observations, and data input updates via ArcGIS Field Maps for observed resources. Work was approximately 3,300 linear feet of trenching 2 feet wide for the underground conduits.
WEST RIDGECREST BOULEVARD WIDENING PROJECT
2014. City of Ridgecrest, Ridgecrest, Kern County, California
SummitWest was retained by Griffith Company to provide biological services for the Ridgecrest Boulevard Widening Project in Ridgecrest, CA. Prior to construction, SummitWest and its partners developed a Desert Tortoise & Mohave Ground Squirrel 2014 Worker Environmental Awareness Program (WEAP) for construction crews and provided on site training. The team also performed preconstruction desert tortoise clearance and Mohave ground squirrel surveys seven days prior and one day prior to work commencing. A full report was presented to Griffith Company as well as data sheets and training materials for the WEAP training.
SOUTH SUNLAND STREET ROAD IMPROVEMENT PROJECT
2014. City of Ridgecrest, Ridgecrest, Kern County, California
SummitWest was retained by Griffith Company to provide biological services for the South Sunland Street Road Improvement Project (Project) in Ridgecrest, CA. SummitWest and its partners provided a desert tortoise preconstruction survey, Worker Environmental Awareness Program (WEAP) training to 17 attendees on the project site and monitored the installation of the desert tortoise exclusion fencing.