[Federal Register: March 10, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 45)]
[Notices]
[Page 10340-10342]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10mr09-122]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Transit Administration
Early Scoping Notice for an Alternatives Analysis of Proposed
Transit Improvements in Ogden-Weber State University Transit Corridor
of Ogden, UT
AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration, DOT.
ACTION: Early scoping notice.
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SUMMARY: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Utah Transit
Authority (UTA) issue this early scoping notice to advise other
agencies and the public that they intend to explore, in the context of
the Council on Environmental Quality's early scoping process, methods
of improving transit service in the City of Ogden, Utah. The early
scoping process is part of a planning Alternatives Analysis (AA)
required by Title 49 United States Code (U.S.C.) Sec. 5309 for the
selection of alternatives that will be subject to the appropriate
environmental process
[[Page 10341]]
under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Early scoping
meetings have been planned and are announced below.
The Ogden-WSU Transit Corridor Alternatives Analysis is focusing on
improving transit service in a 5-mile corridor between downtown Ogden
and Weber State University (WSU). The entire study area is located
within the City of Ogden, Weber County, Utah. The corridor connects the
Ogden Intermodal Center/FrontRunner commuter rail station to the area's
major employment, housing, commercial and education destinations,
including Downtown Ogden, Weber State University, and McKay Dee
Hospital. With the connection to FrontRunner commuter rail, the
corridor also serves trips to and from the greater Wasatch Front
Region. In 2005, the UTA and its regional partners completed a Major
Investment Feasibility Study of the corridor. The 2005 study concluded
that a corridor connecting downtown Ogden and WSU was a promising
candidate for increased transit capital investment, potentially
incorporating streetcar or Bus Rapid Transit service. This study also
developed local consensus for an initial statement of the Purpose and
Need for the project, and evaluated potential alignments and modes.
The planning Alternatives Analysis now being initiated is expected
to result in the selection of a Locally Preferred Alternative by the
Utah Transit Authority and its partners, which include the Wasatch
Front Regional Council, the metropolitan planning organization for the
Greater Salt Lake metropolitan area. Other partners include the City of
Ogden, Weber County, Weber State University, McKay Dee Hospital, and
the Utah Department of Transportation. The Locally Preferred
Alternative will then be a ``proposed action,'' subject to an
appropriate environmental review under the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA). If the Preferred Alternative is anticipated to have
significant impacts, an environmental impact statement (EIS) would be
initiated with a Notice of Intent (NOI) in the Federal Register. Public
and agency scoping of the EIS would be conducted at that time.
The early scoping notice is intended to generate public comments on
the scope of the alternatives analysis. This includes the purpose and
need for the project, the range of alternatives, and environmental and
community impacts and benefits to be considered in the alternatives
analysis.
DATES: Written comments on the scope of the planning Alternatives
Analysis, including the alternatives to be considered and the impacts
to be assessed should be mailed to Ogden/WSU Transit Corridor Project,
c/o Elizabeth Scanlon, UTA, 669 West 200 South, Salt Lake City, UT
84101 or e-mailed to lscanlon@rideuta.com by April 30, 2009.
Early scoping meetings to accept comments on the scope of the
Alternatives Analysis will be held on the following dates:
Tuesday, March 24th, 4 to 7 p.m., Ogden Eccles Conference
Center (ground floor-small ballroom), 2415 Washington Blvd. in Ogden.
Thursday, March 26th, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Weber State
University Student Union Bldg (second level-main auditorium), 1217
University Circle in Ogden.
Scoping materials for these meeting will be provided at the meeting
sites and are available on UTA's Web site at http://rideuta.com.
Scoping materials include the draft purpose and need for the project
and the initial set of alternatives proposed for study. The buildings
and facilities used for the scoping meetings are accessible to persons
with disabilities. Any individual who requires special assistance, such
as a sign language interpreter, to participate in scoping should
contact Elizabeth Scanlon, UTA at 801-236-4706 or lscanlon@rideuta.com.
Hard copies of the scoping materials are also available.
An interagency scoping meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 21st
from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. at Weber Center, 2380 Washington Blvd, Suite 359
in Ogden. Representatives of Native American tribal governments and of
all Federal, State and local agencies that may have an interest in any
aspect of the project will be invited.
In addition to the early scoping meetings, additional agency and
public scoping meetings may be required under NEPA if the Preferred
Alternative is determined to potentially have significant environmental
impacts and an EIS is required. The dates and locations for EIS scoping
meetings would be included in a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an
EIS and would be advertised in the same manner as this Early Scoping
Notice.
ADDRESSES: Written comments on this Early Scoping Notice should be
mailed to Ogden/WSU Transit Corridor Project, c/o Elizabeth Scanlon,
UTA, 669 West 200 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84101 or e-mailed to
lscanlon@rideuta.com. UTA also accepts written comments through its Web
site at http://rideuta.com.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Utah Transit Authority_
lscanlon@rideuta.com.
Federal Transit Administration_david.beckhouse@dot.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Early Scoping
The FTA and UTA invite all interested individuals and
organizations, public agencies, and Native American tribes to comment
on the scope of the Ogden-Weber State University Transit Corridor
Alternatives Analysis, including the purpose and need for transit
improvements in the corridor, the alternatives to be considered, and
the types of impacts to be evaluated. Comments at this time should
focus on the purpose and need for transit improvements in the corridor;
alternatives that may be less costly or have less environmental impact
while achieving similar transportation objectives; and, the
identification of any significant social, economic, or environmental
issues that should be considered in developing the alternatives. Early
scoping is an optional element of the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) process that is particularly useful in situations where, as
here, a proposed action (the locally preferred alternative) has not
been identified and alternative modes and major alignment variations
are under consideration in a broadly-defined corridor.
Purpose and Need for Action
The purpose of the Ogden-Weber State University Transit Corridor
Project is to provide high-quality transit service that:
(1) Improves the level of service and transit ridership between the
Ogden Intermodal Center, the Ogden Central Business District, Weber
State University, and McKay-Dee Hospital;
(2) assists the City of Ogden in achieving vital economic and
community development goals; and,
(3) is affordable, enjoys wide public support, and encourages local
partnerships.
Alternatives
A range of alternatives is being considered including various
transit technologies, corridor alignments, configurations and
operations, station types and locations, and Transportation Systems
Management (TSM) improvements. In addition to these various types of
actions, the implications of a No-Action alternative will be considered
in the analysis. The following summarizes the general types of
alternatives to be considered in the
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analysis, understanding that a variety of possible alternatives, and
combinations thereof, will be initially identified and then undergo
screening to define the alternatives for advancement to the
environmental evaluation process. Further description of this process
is provided below under FTA Procedures.
The initial set of transit modal alternatives to be evaluated in
the Alternatives Analysis include:
--A streetcar alternative that features frequent rail service
running primarily within local street rights-of-way, either in
dedicated or shared lanes, with stations placed along the alignment to
serve important origins/destinations and maintain competitive trip
times for end-end users.
--A Bus Rapid Transit alternative that features low-floor bus
vehicles providing fast, reliable and frequent service in both
directions, using either dedicated or shared lanes serving stations
along the alignment.
--Station alternatives, including terminus stations at both ends of
the line, including a regional park and ride at/near WSU and a
platform-platform connection with FrontRunner and other services at the
Ogden Intermodal Center.
--An array of alignments providing the connections to the major
markets to be served. These include a general alignment that begins at
the Intermodal Center in downtown Ogden and then down to Washington
Boulevard, turning east at 26th Street and then to Harrison Boulevard
and south to Weber State University to approximately 46th Street. Other
options include an alignment from the Intermodal Center and then to
Washington Boulevard and continuing south to 30th Street or 36th
Street, and then traveling east to Harrison Boulevard and south to 46th
Street. (A map of the alignments is posted on http://www.rideuta.com
under the ``Projects'' tab.). Other variations to these general
alignments being considered would include entering the Weber State
University campus roadway system and providing service directly to the
McKay-Dee Hospital. Determining whether the Bus Rapid Transit or
Streetcar alignments and stations would operate in their own lanes or
in shared lanes will be decided, and if they would be in a protected
median in the center of a roadway or running along the side of a
roadway.
--Future No-Action Alternative. The study will consider the
transportation and environmental effects if no new major transit
investments are implemented in this corridor. This alternative will
include the highway and transit projects in the current Wasatch Front
Regional Council Transportation Plan Update 2007-2030.
--Transportation System Management (TSM) Alternative--The study
will consider the effects of modest improvements in the highway and
transit systems beyond those in the Future No-Action Alternative. The
TSM Alternative would evaluate low-cost enhancements to the Future No-
Action Alternative and would emphasize transportation system upgrades
such as intersection improvements, minor road widening, traffic
engineering actions, bus route restructuring, more frequent bus
service, and other transit service improvements that do not require
major capital investments.
In addition to the alternatives described above, other reasonable
alternatives identified through the early scoping process will be
considered for potential inclusion in the planning Alternatives
Analysis, with reasonable meaning the technology is proven and
currently implemented.
FTA Procedures
UTA may seek Small Starts funding for the proposed project under 49
U.S.C. Sec. 5309 and will, therefore, be subject to Smalls Starts
regulation (49 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] part 611). The Small
Starts regulations require a planning Alternatives Analysis that leads
to the selection of a Locally Preferred Alternative by UTA and its
partners, and the inclusion of the locally preferred alternative in the
long-range transportation plan adopted by the Wasatch Front Regional
Council. The planning Alternatives Analysis will examine alignments,
technologies, station locations, costs, funding, ridership, economic
development, land use, engineering feasibility, and environmental
factors in the corridor. The Small Starts regulation also requires the
submission of certain project-justification information in support of a
request to initiate preliminary engineering. After the identification
of a proposed action at the conclusion of the planning Alternatives
Analysis, the appropriate NEPA documentation shall be determined by the
FTA. If preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement is warranted,
a NOI will be published in the Federal Register and the scoping of the
EIS will be completed by soliciting and considering comments on the
purpose and need for the proposed action, the range of alternatives to
be considered in the EIS, and the potentially significant environmental
and community impacts to be evaluated in the EIS.
A plan for coordinating public and agency participation in the
environmental review process and for commenting on the issues under
consideration at various milestones of the process will be prepared and
posted on the UTA Web site at http://www.rideuta.com (under the
``Projects'' tab).
Issued on: March 2, 2009.
Terry J. Rosapep,
Regional Administrator.
[FR Doc. E9-4996 Filed 3-9-09; 8:45 am]
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