[Federal Register: June 21, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 118)]
[Notices]
[Page 35772-35774]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr21jn05-147]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Transit Administration
Environmental Impact Statement for Improved Transportation Access
Between Lower Manhattan, Jamaica Station, and John F. Kennedy
International Airport (JFK), New York
AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
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SUMMARY: The FTA, in cooperation with the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority (MTA), the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (PANYNJ)
and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), and supported
by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), will
prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate
alternatives that provide improved commuter and airport access
connecting Lower Manhattan with the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR)
Jamaica Station in Queens and with JFK International Airport. The
project sponsors, MTA, PANYNJ, LMDC and NYCEDC, are undertaking a New
Starts Alternatives Analysis (AA) concurrently with the EIS.
The FTA is the lead federal agency under the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). The EIS will be prepared in accordance with
NEPA and the regulations implementing NEPA set forth in 23 CFR part 771
and 40 CFR parts 1500-1508. As co-sponsors of the proposed project,
MTA, PANYNJ, LMDC and NYCEDC will ensure that the EIS and the
environmental review process will also satisfy the requirements of the
New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).
The EIS will evaluate one or more Build Alternatives, a No Action
Alternative, and a Transportation System Management (TSM) Alternative.
The scoping process for the EIS will include an analysis and screening
of all feasible rail and non-rail based transportation alternatives
that will improve travel in the corridor between the Lower Manhattan,
Jamaica and JFK Airport travel hubs. The project sponsors may designate
a ``locally preferred alternative'' either prior to the preparation of
the Draft EIS if a clear choice emerges from the screening analysis, or
following public circulation of the Draft EIS.
Scoping will be accomplished through meetings and correspondence
with interested persons, organizations, and Federal, State, regional,
and local agencies. FTA, MTA, PANYNJ, and LMDC, supported by NYCEDC,
seek public and interagency input on the scope of the EIS for this
project including the alternatives to be considered and the
environmental and community impacts to be evaluated.
DATES: The public is invited to participate in project scoping meetings
on July 18, July 19 and July 20 at the locations identified under
ADDRESSES. On July 18, the project sponsors will hold an information
session at 2 p.m., followed by a formal presentation by the project
sponsors at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. On July 19 and July 20, information
sessions will be held at 4 p.m. and formal presentations will be made
at 6 p.m.
At the scoping meetings, the sponsors will display conceptual
project information on poster boards for public review. Project staff
will be available for informal questions and comments during the
information sessions. Those wishing to make formal comments are
requested to register at the meeting location before 7 p.m. A Scoping
Document has been prepared and will be available at the scoping
meetings or by contacting the Project Manager identified under
ADDRESSES.
Written comments on the scope of the EIS should be sent to the Mr.
Chris Bastian, MTA Project Manager, by September 15th, 2005 at the
address given under ADDRESSES.
ADDRESSES: The public scoping meetings will be held:
Monday, July 18th, 2005 at 2 Broadway, 20th Floor
Conference Room, Manhattan (at Bowling Green)
Tuesday, July 19th, 2005 at Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209
Joralemon Street, Brooklyn
Wednesday, July 20th, 2005 at 94-20 Guy R. Brewer Blvd,
York College of the City University of New York, Jamaica Queens
The scoping meeting sites are accessible to mobility-impaired
people and interpreter services will be provided for hearing-impaired
upon request. Written comments will be taken at the meeting or may be
sent to the
[[Page 35773]]
following address thru September 15, 2005: Mr. Chris Bastian, Project
Manager, MTA, 347 Madison Avenue, New York, New York, 10017.
The scoping document may also be requested by writing to the
Project Manager at the above address or by calling (212) 266-8363.
Requests to be placed on the project mailing list may also be made by
calling this number or by writing to the Project Manager.
Subsequent opportunities for public involvement will be announced
on the Internet, by mail, and through other appropriate mechanisms, and
will be conducted throughout the study area. Additional project
information may be obtained from the following Web sites:
MTA (http://www.mta.info; click ``MTA Home'' then
``Planning Studies'' and ``Lower Manhattan-Jamaica/JFK Transportation
Study'')
LMDC (http://www.renewnyc.com) PANYNJ (http://www.panynj.gov)
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Nancy Danzig, AICP, Community
Planner, Federal Transit Administration, 212-668-2180.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Scoping
FTA, MTA, PANYNJ, and LMDC with NYCEDC invite interested
individuals, organizations, and federal, state, and local agencies to
provide comments on the scope of the EIS. During the scoping process,
comments should focus on identifying specific travel, economic, or
environmental needs to be evaluated, and on proposing alternatives that
address those needs, including alternatives that may be less costly or
have fewer environmental impacts while achieving similar transportation
objectives. To assist interested parties in formulating their comments,
a scoping document has been prepared and is available on the MTA,
PANYNJ and LMDC Web sites noted above, or upon request from the Project
Manager identified in ADDRESSES above. The scoping document includes
the project's purpose and need, goals and objectives, information about
prior studies, a preliminary list of alternatives, environmental areas
that will be addressed during the course of the study, and an outline
of the ongoing public participation program.
II. Description of Project Area
The project area is roughly defined by a fourteen mile travel
corridor between the transportation hubs of Lower Manhattan, the
Jamaica Long Island Railroad (LIRR)/AirTrain JFK complex in Queens and
John F. Kennedy International Airport. This area is served by the Long
Island Rail Road Atlantic Branch between Jamaica, Queens and MTA's
Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn; the Atlantic Avenue arterial road;
NYCT's Fulton Street Subway line on which the A train connects to the
AirTrain JFK at Howard Beach; and multiple NYCT subway lines connecting
Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan. Intermediate communities between the
eastern and western hubs include the Downtown Brooklyn Business
District, Fort Greene, Bedford-Stuyvesant, East New York, Woodhaven,
Ozone Park and Howard Beach. In addition, commuters from communities in
Eastern Queens, and Nassau and Suffolk Counties travel through the
Jamaica hub on their way to Downtown Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan.
III. Problem Identification
The Lower Manhattan Central Business District (Manhattan south of
Canal Street) is the nation's third largest business district, and the
center of the international financial industry. The area is served by
multiple subway lines; the PATH rail system from New Jersey; passenger
ferry services; and local and express buses. However, rail access from
Eastern Queens and the Long Island suburbs requires multiple modes,
including either: (a) A transfer at the Jamaica LIRR station to
Atlantic Branch trains and then an additional transfer at the LIRR
Atlantic Terminal to a subway connecting to Lower Manhattan; (b) a long
subway trip from Jamaica (via J Z subway lines) to Lower Manhattan; or
(c) continuing travel via the LIRR to Midtown Manhattan's Penn Station
and then a southbound connection on heavily used subway lines (either
the 1, 2, 3, A or C train) to Lower Manhattan.
Approximately three miles south of the Jamaica LIRR station (and
about 18 miles southeast of Lower Manhattan) is JFK International
Airport, the metropolitan area's primary international air gateway, and
a growing market for domestic air travel. At the present time, a one-
seat ride to JFK International Airport from Lower Manhattan is limited
to private cars, taxis and ``black cars,'', and shuttle vans, while
rail access is provided via the NYC subway system (A train) which makes
several intermediate stops en-route to Howard Beach, where a transfer
is required to the Port Authority's AirTrain JFK. Additional access to
JFK International Airport is possible from Midtown Manhattan by either
a) taking a subway from Lower Manhattan to Penn Station, then taking a
LIRR train to Jamaica, and finally transferring to the AirTrain JFK, or
b) taking a subway (4 or 5) to Grand Central Terminal, then private bus
service to JFK International Airport via the city's crowded highway
system.
Lower Manhattan's transportation system was severely impaired by
the attacks of September 11, 2001. The World Trade Center PATH Terminal
and NYCT 1 9 Cortlandt Street Station were destroyed. PATH service to
Lower Manhattan was interrupted and subway service disrupted. The
attacks also accentuated significant inefficiencies in the area's
extensive transportation infrastructure, largely constructed prior to
World War I, which jeopardize the area's sustainability as a central
business district (CBD), emerging residential area, and key tourist
destination.
IV. Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action
The purpose of the proposed Lower Manhattan and Jamaica/JFK
International Airport Transportation Project is to improve mobility
among the three hubs for both commuters and air travelers by reducing
travel times, eliminating or reducing transfers, increasing
reliability, providing additional capacity and service flexibility into
Lower Manhattan from the east, and reducing congestion on other
transportation services currently used by travelers in the corridor.
As a result of the attacks on the World Trade Center complex in
2001, elected officials and the Downtown business community have
identified both improvements in commuter access between Jamaica,
Downtown Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan and improvements in access to JFK
International Airport as key elements needed to support the Lower
Manhattan area's economic recovery and its ability to compete with
other world economic centers such as London, Frankfurt and Tokyo.
V. Alternatives
The project sponsors will follow the Alternatives Analysis (AA)
procedures of FTA's Section 5309 New Starts process. The alternatives
to be considered during the AA phase will address the defined corridor
problem and study goals and objectives. Through evaluation and
screening of conceptual alternatives, the project sponsors will narrow
the range of viable alternatives to a manageable number to carry
forward into a detailed analysis in the EIS. The EIS will evaluate the
following alternatives:
Build Alternative(s), which will include any rail or non-
rail alternative that survives the scoping and New Starts Alternatives
Analysis;
[[Page 35774]]
Future No Action Alternative, which will include the
existing system and planned transportation improvements (other than the
proposed project) included in the official metropolitan long-range
transportation plan; and
Transportation System Management (TSM) Alternative, which
will attempt to satisfy the project's purpose and need with lower cost
improvements beyond those in the long-range plan, such as more
effective operating practices, increased rolling stock, and station
improvements.
The project sponsors may designate a ``locally preferred
alternative'' either prior to the preparation of the Draft EIS or
following public circulation and comment on the Draft EIS.
The New Starts Alternatives Analysis for this project will draw
upon previous planning studies including the Lower Manhattan Airport
and Commuter Access Alternatives Analysis, completed in 2004 (the
results of which are available on the LMDC Web site) and the MTA's
Lower Manhattan Access Alternatives Study, completed in 2001 (the
results of which are available upon request from the MTA). The 2004
study recommended two rail alternatives for further study in the EIS
phase. Both alternatives use the same alignment, the LIRR Atlantic
Branch, from Jamaica to Atlantic Terminal in Downtown Brooklyn, with
AirTrain JFK service connecting to the Atlantic Branch at Jamaica. Both
alternatives, in order to access Lower Manhattan, break out of the LIRR
Atlantic Branch tunnel east of the LIRR/NYCT Atlantic Terminal. One
alternative would connect to a new rail tunnel under the East River
into Lower Manhattan and the other would connect to the existing
Montague Street Tunnel, currently used for NYCT subway service (M R
subway lines).
VI. Potential Effects
Upon completion, the proposed transportation improvements are
anticipated to reduce travel times, eliminate or reduce transfers,
improve service reliability, provide additional capacity and service
flexibility into Lower Manhattan from the east, and reduce congestion
on other transit lines currently used by travelers in the corridor.
Impacts that may occur as a result of the improvements will be
evaluated in the EIS. The project sponsors have identified several
areas of concern, some of which will be temporary during the
construction phase, including: Property acquisition and displacement;
historic, archaeological, and cultural resources; wetlands and water
quality; visual and aesthetic qualities; air quality; noise and
vibration; safety and security; utilities; and transportation impacts.
The EIS will describe the methodology used to assess impacts;
identify the affected environment; and identify and adopt measures for
mitigating adverse impacts, if any. Principles of environmental
construction management, resource protection and mitigation measures,
such as NYCT's Green Design for the Environment Guidelines (2002) and
LIRR's Sustainable Design/Design for the Environment `` Generic
Guidelines (March 2003), developed pursuant to New York State Executive
Order No. 111 ``Green and Clean,'' will be considered for incorporation
into the selected Alternative.
VII. FTA Procedures
During the NEPA process, FTA will comply with the requirements of
Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, Section 4(f) of
the Department of Transportation Act (49 U.S.C. 303), the conformity
requirements of the Clean Air Act, Executive Order 12898 on
Environmental Justice and, to the maximum extent practicable, all other
applicable federal environmental statutes, regulations, and executive
orders, in accordance with FTA policy and regulations.
A Draft EIS will be prepared and made available for public and
agency review and comment. One or more public hearings will be held on
the Draft EIS. On the basis of the AA or Draft EIS and the public and
agency comments thereon, a locally preferred alternative will be
selected and will be fully described and further developed in the Final
EIS.
Issued on: June 15, 2005.
Letitia Thompson,
Regional Administrator, Region II.
[FR Doc. 05-12153 Filed 6-20-05; 8:45 am]
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