[Federal Register: September 12, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 176)]
[Notices]
[Page 53739-53740]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr12se06-99]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Transit Administration
Environmental Impact Statement for the North Metro Corridor
AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), U.S. Department of
Transportation.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement
(EIS).
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SUMMARY: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Denver
Regional Transportation District (RTD), in cooperation with the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Colorado Department of
Transportation (CDOT), will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS) to evaluate the impacts of transit improvements, including a
potential commuter rail line or a light rail line, in the North Metro
Corridor between Downtown Denver and the City of Thornton in Adams
County, Colorado. The EIS will be prepared in accordance with FTA/FHWA
regulations (23 CFR 771 et seq.) implementing the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), as well as provisions of the recently
enacted Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity
Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). The purpose of this Notice of
Intent is to alert interested parties regarding the plan to prepare the
EIS, to provide information on the nature of the proposed transit
project, to invite participation in the NEPA process, including
comments on the scope of the EIS proposed in this notice, and to
announce that public scoping meetings will be conducted.
DATES: Written comments on the scope of the EIS should be sent to Dave
Shelley, RTD Project Manager, by October 31, 2006. Public scoping
meetings will be held on September 27 and 28, 2006 from 5:30 p.m. to
8:15 p.m. at the locations indicated below.
An interagency scoping meeting will be scheduled after agencies
with an interest in the proposed project have been identified.
ADDRESSES: Written comments on the scope of the EIS should be sent to
Dave Shelley, RTD Project Manager, North Metro Corridor, Regional
Transportation District (RTD), 1560 Broadway, Suite 700, Denver, CO
80202. Comments may also be offered at the public scoping meetings. The
addresses for the public scoping meetings are as follows:
Wednesday, September 27, 2006, City of Thornton Civic Center Complex,
9500 Civic Center Drive, Thornton, CO 80229.
Thursday, September 28, 2006, Bruce Randolph Middle School, 3955 Steele
Street, Denver, CO 80205.
For more information for assistance needs for the scoping meetings,
please contact Dave Shelley at (303) 299-2408 at least 48 hours before
the meeting. All meetings will be conducted in wheelchair accessible
locations.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. David Beckhouse, Community
Planner, Federal Transit Administration, Region VIII, 12300 West Dakota
Ave., Suite 310, Lakewood, CO 80228-2583, (720) 963-3306.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
The Proposed Project: The project extends 18 miles between Denver
Union Station (DUS) and 162nd Avenue (SH7) north of Thornton. The
project proposes stations at Globeville/Swansea, Commerce City, 88th
Avenue, 100th Avenue, 112th Avenue, 124th Avenue, 144th Avenue, and
162nd Avenue.
Purposes of and Need for the Proposed Project: The North Metro area
is forecast to be one of the fastest growing areas of the region and
the country over the next 20 years. Growth rates for both population
and employment are forecast to be double the regional average. The I-25
and I-76 corridors are forecast to intensify as employment corridors,
with the areas between the two facilities filling in with residential
development. Congestion along north I-25 is already severe, with
forecasts indicating increasing severity and duration of congestion. In
addition to increasing congestion, access through and from the area to
other areas in the metro region is difficult. Many roadways are not
continuous, requiring circuitous travel. Existing transit service in
the area is minimal and utilizes the congested roadway network. The
project will provide a new fixed-guideway, high-capacity transportation
facility to improve local and regional mobility and accessibility for
the North Metro area.
This transit project is included as part of RTD's FasTracks
Program, a 12-year comprehensive plan for transit service and
facilities in the Denver region. The FasTracks Plan is a $4.7 billion
program that was endorsed by the voters of the Denver metropolitan area
in 2004. The voters of the region approved an increase in the regional
sales and use tax from 0.6% to 1.0% in order to provide for the
expedited build out of the transit system. FasTracks includes a funding
plan for 119 new miles of rail transit, 18 miles of bus rapid transit,
21,000 new spaces in park n Rides and significant improvements to the
bus system. The FasTracks projects have been adopted in the current
Denver area Regional Transportation Plan (RTP).
Alternatives: The EIS scoping process will include an evaluation of
the results of the MIS conducted by RTD between 1998 and 2001 as well
as the Three Corridors Scoping Study that was completed in October
2005. The Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) of the MIS was either
Light Rail Transit (LRT) or Diesel Multiple Units (DMU) between DUS and
124th Avenue along the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) Boulder Branch.
This recommendation was approved by the Denver Regional Council of
Governments and included in the fiscally constrained RTP and the
MetroVision 2030 Master Plan.
FTA and RTD propose that the EIS evaluate the following three
alternatives: 1. The no-action alternative is the option of
implementing nothing more that the existing and committed road and
transit improvements; 2. The TSM alternative includes various
transportation improvements beyond the existing and committed projects
plus enhanced bus transit service in the North Metro Corridor; 3. The
MIS LPA will be evaluated as the proposed project as a commuter rail
line between DUS and 162nd Avenue (SH 7) along the existing UPRR
Boulder Branch line. The EIS will also consider any additional
reasonable fixed-guideway, high capacity transit alternatives
identified during scoping that provide similar transportation benefits
while reducing or avoiding adverse impacts.
The NEPA Process and the Role of Participating Agencies and the
Public: The purpose of the NEPA process is to explore, in a public
setting, potentially significant effects of implementing the proposed
action and alternatives on the physical, human, and natural
environment. Areas of investigation include, but are not limited to,
land use, development potential, land acquisition and displacements,
historic resources,
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visual and aesthetic qualities, air quality, noise and vibration,
energy use, safety and security, and ecosystems, including threatened
and endangered species. Measures to avoid, minimize, or mitigate any
significant adverse impacts will be identified. Regulations
implementing NEPA, as well as provisions of the recently enacted Safe,
Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy
for Users (SAFETEA-LU), call for public involvement in the EIS process.
Section 6002 of SAFETEA-LU requires that FTA and RTD do the following:
(1) Extend an invitation to other Federal and non-Federal agencies and
Indian tribes that may have an interest in the proposed project to
become ``participating agencies,'' (2) provide an opportunity for
involvement by participating agencies and the public in helping to
define the purpose and need for a proposed project, as well as the
range of alternatives for consideration in the EIS; and (3) establish a
plan for coordinating public and agency participation in and comment on
the environmental review process. An invitation to become a
participating agency, with the scoping information packet appended,
will be extended to other Federal and non-Federal agencies and Indian
tribes that may have an interest in the proposed project. It is
possible that we may not be able to identify all Federal and non-
Federal agencies and Indian tribes that may have such an interest. Any
Federal or non-Federal agency or Indian tribe interested in the
proposed project that does not receive an invitation to become a
participating agency should notify at the earliest opportunity the
Project Manager identified above under ADDRESSES.
A comprehensive public involvement program will be developed and a
public and agency involvement Coordination Plan will be created. The
program will include outreach to local and county officials and
community and civic groups; a public scoping process to define the
issues of concern among all parties interested in the project;
organizing periodic meetings with various local agencies, organizations
and committees; a public hearing on release of the Draft Environmental
Impact Statement (DEIS); and development and distribution of project
newsletters.
The purposes of and need for the proposed project have been
preliminarily identified in this notice. We invite the public and
participating agencies to consider the preliminary statement of
purposes of and need for the proposed project, as well as the
alternatives proposed for consideration. Suggestions for modifications
to the statement of purposes of and need for the proposed project and
any other alternatives that meet the purposes of and need for the
proposed project are welcomed and will be given serious consideration.
Comments on potentially significant environmental impacts that may be
associated with the proposed project and alternatives are also
welcomed. There will be additional opportunities to participate in the
scoping process in addition to the public meetings announced in this
notice.
In accordance with 23 CFR 771.105(a) and 771.133, FTA will comply
with all Federal environmental laws, regulations, and executive orders
applicable to the proposed project during the environmental review
process. These requirements include, but are not limited to, the
regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality and FTA
implementing NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508, and 23 CFR part 771), the
project-level air quality conformity regulation of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (40 CFR part 93), the Section
404(b)(1) guidelines of EPA (40 CFR part 230), the regulation
implementing Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (36
CFR part 800), the regulation implementing section 7 of the Endangered
Species Act (50 CFR part 402), Section 4(f) regulation implementing the
DOT Act (23 CFR 771.135), and Executive Orders 12898 on environmental
justice, 11988 on floodplain management, and 11990 on wetlands.
In accordance with 36 CFR 800.8 FTA and RTD will coordinate
compliance with Section 106 requirements and the requirements of the
NEPA Process. RTD will utilize the Memorandum of Agreement between the
FTA, Region VIII and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), dated
January, 2006 for documentation to comply with Section 404 mandates.
In addition, RTD may seek Section 5309 New Starts funding for the
project. As provided in the FTA New Starts regulation (49 CFR part
611), New Starts funding requires the submission of certain specific
information to FTA to support a request to initiate preliminary
engineering, which is normally done in conjunction with the NEPA
process.
Issued on: September 7, 2006.
Lee O. Waddleton,
Regional Administrator, Region VIII, Federal Transit Administration.
[FR Doc. E6-15093 Filed 9-11-06; 8:45 am]
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