[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 197 (Wednesday, October 13, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62917-62918]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-25653]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Transit Administration
[FTA Docket No. FTA-2010-37]
Notice of Request for the Approval of Information Collection
AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of request for comments.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this
notice announces the intention of the Federal Transit Administration
(FTA) to request the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve
the following information collection: 49 U.S.C. Part 611--Major Capital
Investment Projects.
DATES: Comments must be submitted before December 13, 2010.
ADDRESSES: To ensure that your comments are not entered more than once
into the docket, submit comments identified by the docket number by
only one of the following methods:
1. Web site: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions
for submitting comments on the U.S. Government electronic docket site.
(Note: The U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT's) electronic
docket is no longer accepting electronic comments.) All electronic
submissions must be made to the U.S. Government electronic docket site
at http://www.regulations.gov. Commenters should follow the directions
below for mailed and hand-delivered comments.
2. Fax: 202-366-7951.
3. Mail: U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue,
SE., Docket Operations, M-30, West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-
140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
4. Hand Delivery: U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue, SE., Docket Operations, M-30, West Building, Ground
Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001 between 9 a.m. and 5
p.m., Monday through Friday, except federal holidays.
Instructions: You must include the agency name and docket number
for this notice at the beginning of your comments. Submit two copies of
your comments if you submit them by mail. For confirmation that FTA has
received your comments, include a self-addressed stamped postcard. Note
that all comments received, including any personal information, will be
posted and will be available to Internet users, without change, to
http://www.regulations.gov. You may review DOT's complete Privacy Act
Statement in the Federal Register published April 11, 2000, (65 FR
19477), or you may visit http://www.regulations.gov.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents and
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov at any time.
Background documents and comments received may also be viewed at the
U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Docket
Operations, M-30, West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140,
Washington, DC 20590-0001 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Day, Office of Planning and
Environment, (202) 366-5159, or e-mail: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Interested parties are invited to send
comments regarding any aspect of this information collection,
including: (1) The necessity and utility of the information collection
for the proper performance of the functions of the FTA; (2) the
accuracy of the estimated burden; (3) ways to enhance the quality,
utility, and clarity of the collected information; and (4) ways to
minimize the collection burden without reducing the quality of the
collected information. Comments submitted in response to this notice
will be summarized and/or included in the request for OMB approval of
this information collection.
Title: 49 U.S.C. Part 611--49 CFR Major Capital Investment
Projects.
OMB Number: 2132-0561.
Background: On August 10, 2005, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible,
Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU)
was enacted. Sections 3011(d)(5) and 3011(e)(6) of SAFETEA-LU require
FTA to issue regulations on the manner in which candidate projects for
major capital investment grants for new fixed guideway systems,
extensions to existing fixed guideway systems, or significant corridor
based bus investments (``New Starts'' and ``Small Starts'') will be
evaluated and rated for purposes of the FTA Capital Investment Grant
program under 49 U.S.C. Section 5309. An Advanced Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking (ANPRM) for this regulation was issued on January 30, 2006,
(71 FR 22841). A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) was issued on
August 3, 2007, (72 FR 43328). The NPRM was withdrawn on February 17,
2009, due to an intervening statutory change resulting from the passage
of the SAFETEA-LU Technical Corrections Act in June 2008. Another ANPRM
for the regulation was issued on June 2, 2010 (75 FR 31383). FTA is
reviewing the comments received on the ANPRM, and at this time a date
for publication of the NPRM is not known.
FTA has a longstanding requirement to evaluate proposed projects
against a prescribed set of statutory criteria at specific points
during the projects' development including when they seek to enter
preliminary engineering, final design, and a Full Funding Grant
Agreement. In addition, FTA must report on its evaluations and ratings
annually to Congress. The Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation
Assistance Act of 1987 (STURAA) established in law a set of criteria
that proposed projects had to meet in order to be eligible for federal
funding. The requirement for summary project ratings has been in place
since 1998. Thus, the requirements for project evaluation and data
collection for New Starts projects are not new. One addition included
in SAFETEA-LU is the Small Starts program. The Small Starts program
enables smaller cost projects with a smaller requested share of Section
5309 major capital investment funds to progress through a simplified
and streamlined project evaluation and data collection process. In
general, the information used by FTA for New and Small Starts project
evaluation and
[[Page 62918]]
rating should arise as a part of the normal planning process.
FTA has been collecting project evaluation information from project
sponsors under the existing OMB approval for this program (OMB No.
2132-0561). However, due to modifications in the project evaluation
criteria and FTA evaluation and rating procedures for the New Starts
program and the addition of the Small Starts program, it became
apparent that some information now required might be beyond the scope
of ordinary planning activities. In particular, SAFETEA-LU creates
additional requirements for before-and-after data collection as a
condition of obtaining a Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) or a
Project Construction Grant Agreement (PCGA).
Respondents: State and local government.
Estimated Annual Burden on Respondents: Approximately 275 hours for
each of the 135 respondents.
Estimated Total Annual Burden: 37,070 hours.
Frequency: Annual.
Issued: October 6, 2010.
Ann M. Linnertz,
Associate Administrator for Administration.
[FR Doc. 2010-25653 Filed 10-12-10; 8:45 am]
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