[Federal Register: September 24, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 184)]
[Notices]
[Page 54318-54321]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr24se07-88]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Transit Administration
Preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement for the Van Ness
Avenue Bus Rapid Transit Project in San Francisco, CA
AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Department of
Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS).
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA), the Council of Environmental Quality Regulations (40
CFR part 1505.6), and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
Section 151710, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), in
cooperation with the San Francisco County Transportation Authority
(SFCTA), will prepare a joint Environmental Impact Statement/
Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) for the Van Ness Avenue Bus Rapid
Transit (BRT) Project, an approximately two-mile transit improvement
along Van Ness Avenue through the City and County of San Francisco,
California. The Project would create dedicated bus lanes from
approximately South Van Ness Avenue and Mission Street (south end) to
Van Ness Avenue and Lombard Street (north end). The project would also
establish high capacity stations with passenger amenities and low-level
boarding platforms; real time bus arrival information systems; proof-
of-payment fare verification; transit signal priority; and modern,
high-capacity, low-floor, multi-door buses.
The EIS/EIR will evaluate the following alternatives: (1) No-
Project/Baseline Alternative; (2) Van Ness Avenue BRT Project, which
will include design options for the configuration of the BRT transitway
and stations; and (3) any additional reasonable alternatives that
emerge from the study process. The EIS will be prepared in accordance
with FTA regulations (23 CFR 771 et seq.) implementing the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as well as provisions of the Safe,
Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy
for Users (SAFETEA-LU). The EIR will be prepared in accordance with the
[[Page 54319]]
California Environmental Quality Act (California Code of Regulation,
Title 14, Chapter 3). As part of the EIS/EIR process, an evaluation of
potential transit improvement alternatives will be completed
(``alternatives analysis'') in accordance with 23 CFR Part 450 and
inform the development of project alternatives.
Previous studies and documents relevant to this action include the
recently completed Van Ness Avenue BRT Feasibility Study (December
2006); 2005 Prop K Strategic Plan (March 2005); 2004 San Francisco
Countywide Transportation Plan (adopted July 20, 2004), and the New
Transportation Expenditure Plan for San Francisco (Proposition K,
approved November 4, 2003). These documents describe the planning and
funding for transportation improvements in San Francisco, including BRT
in major bus corridors. These documents can be downloaded at the Web
site http://www.sfcta.org, or requested from the Authority.
EIS/EIR preparation will be initiated through a formal NEPA scoping
process, which solicits input on issues and potential project impacts
to consider in the environmental studies. Scoping will be accomplished
through meetings and correspondence with interested persons,
organizations, the general public, and Federal, State, and local
agencies. Letters describing the proposed action and soliciting
comments have been sent to the appropriate Federal, State, and local
agencies, and to private organizations and individuals. Comments on
issues and impacts to be considered in preparation of the EIS/EIR will
be recorded in the project information database.
DATES: Comment Due Date: Written comments on the scope of alternatives
and impacts to be considered must be postmarked no later than October
18, 2007 and should be sent to SFTA at the contact address below.
NEPA Scoping Meeting Date: The public scoping meetings will be held
on October 2, 2007 at the Holiday Inn Golden Gateway, 1500 Van Ness
Avenue, San Francisco, CA, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The meeting agenda
will include opportunities to speak with project staff, viewing of
information on the project, a brief presentation of the project purpose
and alternatives, and opportunity for meeting participants to comment
on issues of interest. The open house will resume after the
presentation and comment period. Project staff will be present to
receive formal agency and public input regarding the scope of the
environmental studies, key issues, and other suggestions. The meeting
room is accessible to persons with disabilities. Any individual with a
disability who requires special assistance, such as a sign language
interpreter, or any individual who requires English language
interpretation should contact the SFCTA at 415-593-1423 at least 48
hours in advance of the meeting in order for the SFCTA to make
necessary arrangements.
ADDRESSES: The scoping meeting will be held at the locations identified
in the NEPA Scoping Meeting Date section above. Written comments should
be sent to: Rachel Hiatt, Senior Transportation Planner, San Francisco
County Transportation Authority; 100 Van Ness Avenue, 26th Floor; San
Francisco, CA 94612. Phone: 415-522-4809 or Rachel.Hiatt@sfcta.org. To
be added to the mailing list for the Van Ness Avenue BRT Project,
contact Ms. Hiatt at the address listed above. Persons with special
needs should leave a message at the phone number above.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Donna Turchie, Federal Transit
Administration, Office of Planning and Program Development; 201 Mission
Street, Suite 1650; San Francisco, CA 94105. Phone: 415-744-2737 or
Donna.Turchie@dot.gov. Additional information on the Van Ness Avenue
BRT Project can be found on the project Web site at: http://www.vannessbrt.org/
and by contacting Rachel Hiatt at the SFCTA.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Project Background
The proposed project would be located in a key north-south
transportation corridor in the heart of the City and County of San
Francisco. Van Ness Avenue is an important roadway and transit route
serving high density commercial, residential, and civic/institutional
areas along its length from the U.S. and State Highway Route 101
freeway on the south to San Francisco Bay on the north. It is an at-
grade continuation of U.S. and State Highway Route 101 from the freeway
to Lombard Street, which continues west to Doyle Drive and the Golden
Gate Bridge. The roadway serves as a major thoroughfare for local
traffic as well as through traffic, carrying over 50,000 people in cars
per day and about 4000 people in vehicles during the pm peak hour.
Transit service is provided by Muni routes 47 and 49, and by Golden
Gate Transit (based in Marin County), which operates commute service
and limited all-day service into San Francisco on Van Ness Avenue.
About 43,000 passengers use Muni Routes 47 and 49 and the Golden Gate
Transit Van Ness routes daily, with approximately 15,000 passengers
riding daily within the Van Ness Avenue segment of service. A number of
major east-west transit routes cross Van Ness Avenue and generate major
bus-to-bus and bus-to-rail transfers with Van Ness Avenue services,
including the muni Metro lines and the Muni lines 38 (Geary) and 38L
(Geary Limited).
Traffic congestion in mix-flow traffic lanes and transit
overcrowding result in poor transit service reliability and low average
bus speeds, currently just 5 to 7 miles per hour during commute
periods. Bus reliability is poor, with high variation in headways and
bus bunching. Transit mode shares are low relative to the potential
transit market along this corridor, where housing densities within one-
quarter mile of Van Ness Avenue average over 90 units per acre, where
46% of households do not own a car (relative to 29% citywide), and
where the city expects to add about 3,800 new housing units and 8,500
new jobs by 2025.
Van Ness Avenue has been identified as a high priority transit
improvement corridor in a number of planning studies and funding
actions by the City. The Authority's Four Corridors Plan (1995) and
Muni's Vision for Rapid Transit (2000) identified Van Ness as a
priority corridor for rapid transit improvements. Along with two other
key transit corridors, Van Ness Avenue was designated for BRT
improvements in the New Expenditure Plan for San Francisco, approved by
voters as Proposition K, the reauthorization of the City's \1/2\ cent
transportation sales tax measure, in November 2003. The Expenditure
Plan is the investment component of the 2004 San Francisco Countywide
Transportation Plan, which sets forth the city's ``blueprint to guide
the development of transportation funding priorities and policy'' with
a key objective being the promotion and implementation of San
Francisco's transit first policy through the development of a network
of fast, reliable transit including bus rapid transit. The Van Ness
Avenue BRT Feasibility Study was initiated in 2004, completed in 2006,
and evaluated the feasibility of four alternative BRT configurations on
Van Ness Avenue. Four BRT alternatives were developed and compared with
a No Project scenario, in conjunction with a comprehensive public and
agency participation program. The Feasibility Study found that all four
BRT configurations are feasible on Van Ness and recommended an
environmental analysis to identify a preferred alternative. The
alternatives form the
[[Page 54320]]
foundation for the BRT improvements to be evaluated in the proposed
project EIS/EIR.
II. Purpose and Need
The City and County of San Francisco adopted as part of the 2004
Countywide Transportation Plan and its investment component, the New
Expenditure Plan for San Francisco, a bus rapid transit strategy for
expanding rapid transit service in San Francisco. The BRT network is
intended to address the following purpose:
1. Support the city's growth and development needs
2. Better serve existing transit riders and stem and reverse the
trend toward transit mode share loss
3. Improve the operational efficiency and cost effectiveness of the
transportation system.
A BRT network can meet those goals by:--
Improving transit levels of service cost effectively.
Strengthening rapid transit services
Raising the cost effectiveness of Muni service and
operational efficiency of transit preferential streets
Contributing to livability of BRT corridors
Specific Van Ness BRT project purpose and need statements linked to
these goals were subsequently established to guide the development of a
BRT project for the Van Ness Avenue corridor. They guided preparation
of the Van Ness Avenue BRT Feasibility Study (2005-2006), and include:
Close the performance gap between transit and automobile
travel on Van Ness Avenue. For transit, this means reducing travel time
(including wait time); significantly increasing reliability and
reducing bunching; reducing crowding; and improving connectivity and
safety.
Raise the operational efficiency of Van Ness Avenue. San
Francisco has limited roadway capacity and no space to expand the
network. It is also difficult in many areas to travel by auto given the
obstacles--limited capacity and resulting congestion on key roadway
segments. It is city policy to encourage travel by higher capacity
modes to expand the transportation network's carrying capacity and use
it more efficiently. BRT offers a means to expand the overall capacity
of Van Ness Avenue. However, transit buses must be separated from the
existing traffic and pedestrian congestion and other impediments to
efficient, fast travel.
Transit infrastructure improvements would allow Muni to operate
buses more efficiently and improve the productivity of buses by
enabling each bus to complete more runs per hour. Frequent stops and
starts and slowed, sometimes uneven, operations in congested conditions
increase the wear and tear on buses and also fuel consumption.
Improving average bus speeds would lead to more efficient operations
and allow Muni to serve more passengers at a lower cost per passenger.
Raise the level of amenities and urban design of Van Ness
Avenue. Van Ness Avenue is currently not an appealing urban environment
for pedestrians. The Van Ness Avenue BRT Project incorporates elements
that enhance the urban design and identity of Van Ness Avenue,
especially at major transit nodes such as Mission Street and South Van
Ness, Market Street, and Geary and O'Farrell streets. Transit capital
improvements properly done and integrated with other design initiatives
would make the street more livable and attractive for residents and
commercial and institutional uses along its length. The BRT on Van Ness
Avenue Project would incorporate pedestrian safety and urban design
features and help transform Van ness Avenue into a ``signature
Preferential Transit Street and distinctive gateway into San
Francisco.''
Accommodate future mobility needs. This need is linked to
the continuing growth in the San Francisco and the region. More housing
and more households now exist than in 2000 and they are projected to
continue growing, with population increasing almost 20 percent by 2030
(Association of Bay Area Governments, Projections 2005; San Francisco's
2000 population was 776,733; 2030 population is projected to be
924,600). Employment is forecast to grown by 29 percent during the same
period, to 829,090 jobs available by 2030 (ABAG). Along the Van Ness
Avenue corridor itself, over 3,800 new housing units and 8,500 new jobs
are anticipated. Transit priority and other congestion management
measures offer an important way to accommodate the resulting growth in
travel demand, which will be focused on the major transportation
corridors in the city. Van Ness Avenue is one of these critical
corridors.
III. Alternatives
Alternatives to be reviewed in the include a (1) No-Project/
Baseline Alternative, which would encompass low cost improvements to
corridor bus services, such as bus stop amenities and limited transit
signal priority; (2) Van Ness Avenue BRT Project, which would provide a
full complement of BRT improvements in two or more cross-sectional
configurations for Van Ness Avenue between approximately Mission Street
and Lombard Street; and (3) any other service, alignment or cross-
sectional alternatives that emerge from the scoping and alternatives
analysis processes.
The No-Project Alternative assumes a 2030 condition of land use and
transportation capital and service improvements that are programmed or
planned to be implemented by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation
Agency (MTA, which includes San Francisco Muni and the Department of
Parking and Traffic) and other transit providers in the study area
(e.g. Golden Gate Transit, Caltrain, the commuter rail service between
San Francisco and San Jose, and the Bay Area Rapid Transit District, or
BART, a regional rail service provider). For transit, these include
upgraded bus stops and passenger information/communication systems.
Other transportation system improvements, such roadway traffic
management measures, street lighting upgrades, and street resurfacing/
landscaping projects that would be the responsibility of the San
Francisco Department of Public Works (DPW), the Public Utilities
Commission (PUC), or the California State Department of Transportation
(Caltrans), will be included in the 2030 No-Project network. This
network will also form the background network for the build
alternatives.
The Van Ness Avenue BRT Project would include, among other
features, dedicated transit lanes within the existing Van Ness Avenue
right-of-way; sheltered, low-platform passenger stations with real time
bus arrival passenger information signs, lighting, and wayfinding;
self-service fare vending on station platforms and on-board proof-of-
payment verification; and advanced transit traffic signal priority and
traffic management systems to reduce bus delays at signalized
intersections yet maintain acceptable traffic flow. Passenger stations
would be spaced on average every 940 feet with local bus service one
block to the east. BRT transitway and stations improvements would be
made entirely within existing public rights-of-way; improvements
outside of existing public rights of way are not anticipated with the
possible exception of required improvements to existing Muni bus
storage and maintenance facilities and to off-alignment intersections
and parking facilities for mitigation of project impacts. Variations in
the cross-section for the BRT transitway and the locations of stations
are anticipated and would comprise design options for the
[[Page 54321]]
basic BRT alignment. A two-way transitway either in the median of Van
Ness Avenue or along the outside curbs (one northbound BRT lane along
the east curb/parking lane; one southbound BRT lane along the west
curb/parking lane) and, correspondingly, stations in the median or as
extensions of the sidewalk were considered in the Van Ness Avenue BRT
Feasibility Study and warrant further evaluation as part of the EIS/EIR
and alternatives analysis.
The SFCTA in association with Muni will evaluate the procurement of
modern low-floor high-capacity vehicles that would be assigned to the
BRT service and have added features, such as two-sided multidoor
access, passenger station docking assist, and other amenities.
Streetscape improvements, such as enhanced landscaping and pedestrian
access along Van Ness Avenue, are also included in the proposed BRT
project.
IV. Probable Effects
FTA and SFCTA will evaluate the transportation, environmental,
social, and economic impact of each alternative. Effects of the Van
Ness Avenue BRT Project will be compared to the No Project/Baseline.
The overall benefits of the Van Ness Avenue BRT Project, including on
transit speeds and reliability, new riders, and transportation system
user benefits, will be relative to the No Project/Baseline Alternative.
The Van Ness Avenue BRT Project Alternative is expected to improve
transit speeds and increase transit reliability; increase bus transit
ridership; improve access and mobility for San Francisco residents,
many of whom are highly dependent on transit; and provide competitive
transit access to major employment and activity centers relative to the
No Project/Baseline Alternative.
Increased congestion and worsening conditions for transit service
along Van Ness Avenue are expected without a significant improvement.
The No Project/Baseline Alternatives would not eliminate the main
impediments to efficient and effective service in the corridor--auto/
transit conflicts in mixed-flow lanes. The Van Ness Avenue BRT Project
may affect the following areas: Traffic operations; parking; local
access and circulation; visual and aesthetic effects; historic and
cultural resources; disturbance of pre-existing hazardous wastes; and
temporary construction-phase impacts. Impacts of the Van Ness Avenue
BRT Project will be evaluated for both the construction period and for
the long-term period of operation. Mitigation measures will be
identified and evaluated for avoiding and reducing adverse effects.
To ensure all significant issues related to the proposed project
are identified and addressed in the ESI/EIR and alternatives analysis,
comments and suggestions are invited from all interested parties.
Comments, suggestions, and questions concerning the proposed action
should be directed to the contacts listed above.
V. FTA Procedures
In accordance with the FTA policy, all Federal laws, regulations
and executive orders affecting project development, including but 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
conformity requirements of the Clean Air Act; section 4040 of the Clean
Water Act; Executive Order 12898 regarding environmental justice; the
National Historic Preservation Act; the Endangered Species Act; and
section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act, will be addressed
to the maximum extent practicable during the NEPA process. Prior
transportation planning studies may be pertinent to establishing the
purpose and need for the proposed action and the range of alternatives
to be evaluated in detail in the EIS/EIR. The Draft EIS/EIR will be
prepared simultaneously with conceptual engineering for the
alternatives, including bus stop and alignment options. The Draft EIS/
EIR process will address the potential use of Federal funds for the
proposed action, as well as assessing social, economic, and
environmental impacts of the proposed Van Ness Avenue BRT Project. The
Project will be refined to minimize and mitigate any adverse impacts.
After publication, the Draft EIS/EIR will be available for public
and agency review and comment, and a public hearing will be held. Based
on the Draft EIS/EIR and comments received, the San Francisco County
Transportation Authority Board will select a locally preferred
alternative (LPA) for further assessment in the Final EIS/EIR, which
will be based on further engineering of the LPA and other remaining
alternatives. SFCTA intends to request FTA approval to enter Project
Development and secure funding under the Small Starts program prior to
initiating further engineering (e.g., preliminary engineering) and
preparing the Final EIS/EIR.
Issued on September 19, 2007.
Leslie T. Rogers,
Regional Administrator.
[FR Doc. 07-4713 Filed 9-21-07; 8:45 am]
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