University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The Grainger College of Engineering
Illinois Center for Transportation

TRP chair spotlight: Scott Marlow

8/1/2015

Scott Marlow, Environmental Policy Manager for the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Design and Environment, currently serves as Technical Review Panel (TRP) chair of project R27-141, Effective Post-Construction Best Management Practices to Infiltrate and Retain Stormwater Run-Off.

The purpose of that project is to make recommendations regarding IDOT’s current specifications and to update policy in anticipation of new post-construction stormwater runoff rules from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA). The investigators plan to identify performance and cost-effective post-construction best management practices that will help IDOT stay in conformance with IEPA regulations.

Marlow has also served on the TRPs for three completed ICT/IDOT projects:

According to Marlow, “Research is one of the best tools to examine whether a current practice really is the best way of accomplishing a goal. The challenge is to implement the research results in a meaningful way.”

But implementation is a challenge with a large potential for payoff: “I believe there is an environmental and financial payoff. The new reality for most state governments is that funding is not likely to increase but decrease, so we have to be smart with our tax dollars. For example, the Native Vegetation Establishment study results showed our specifications had too many species, so we are working to streamline our mix and still provide species diversity as well as aesthetic quality.”

Marlow also serves as co-chair of IDOT’s Stormwater Committee and created an environmental assessment template to help districts streamline the review process for federally funded projects, which reduced review and approval time.

In his role as IDOT’s Environmental Policy Manager, Marlow is involved with natural resources, special waste, and stormwater management and works closely with other state and federal agencies such as IEPA and FHWA. He has been with IDOT since 1999, where he interned while earning his master’s degree in biology from the University of Illinois Springfield. He holds a bachelor’s degree in zoology from Southern Illinois University.