Context Sensitive Solutions
Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) is defined as a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach that involves all stakeholders to develop a transportation project that fits its physical setting and preserves scenic, aesthetic, historic and environmental resources while maintaining safety and mobility.
The California High Speed Rail Project and CSS
The Peninsula Cities Consortium and Peninsula representatives for the California High Speed Rail Authority have adopted the use of Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) during planning and design of the Peninsula section of the high speed rail line. CSS is a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach that involves all stakeholders in developing a transportation project that fits the context of a community. The process goes deeper than the usual requirements for building that are dictated by environmental laws to reflect full and fair consideration of all alternatives.
CSS has been used successfully for many years in highway construction projects. It grew out of community frustration with highway projects that plowed through cities without adequate regard for their surrounds. Its integration into the Peninsula high speed rail project marks the first time it has been used on a rail project anywhere in the United States.