Preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement and Section 4(f) Evaluation for High-Capacity Transit Improvements in the I-10 West Corridor, 56128-56130 [E7-19417]

Agencies

• Federal Transit Administration
• DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 190 (Tuesday, October 2, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56128-56130]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-19417]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration


Preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement and Section 4(f) 
Evaluation for High-Capacity Transit Improvements in the I-10 West 
Corridor

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration, U.S. Department of 
Transportation.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an Alternatives Analysis/
Environmental Impact Statement and Section 4(f) Evaluation.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and Valley Metro 
Rail, Inc. (METRO) intend to prepare an Alternatives Analysis (AA)/
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Section 4(f) Evaluation on 
proposed high capacity transit improvements, including a potential 
light rail transit (LRT) line and/or bus rapid transit (BRT) in the 
Interstate 10 (I-10) West study area between the Central Phoenix/East 
Valley LRT Starter Line on Central Avenue and State Route 101 extending 
through the cities of Phoenix and Tolleson in Maricopa County, Arizona. 
The proposed study area is bounded by State Route 101 on the west; 
Thomas Road on the north; 7th Street on the east; and Buckeye Road on 
the south. Transit improvements and alignments within the I-10 right-
of-way will be considered among the alternatives. The AA/EIS will be 
prepared in accordance with the requirements of the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 40 CFR parts 1500-1508, and its 
implementing regulations. The AA/EIS process will be initiated with a 
scoping process that provides opportunities for the public to comment 
on the scope of the project and proposed alternatives to be considered 
in the AA and Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). This input 
will be used to assist decisionmakers in determining a locally 
preferred alternative (LPA) for the I-10 West Corridor. After the 
completion of the DEIS and upon selection of an LPA, METRO will request 
permission from FTA to enter into preliminary engineering per 
requirements of New Starts regulations 49 CFR part 611. The Final 
Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) will be issued after FTA approves 
entrance into preliminary engineering.
    The purpose of this notice is to alert interested parties regarding 
the intent to prepare the AA/EIS and Section 4(f) Evaluation, to 
provide information on the nature of the proposed project and possible 
alternatives, to invite public participation in the AA/EIS process, 
including comments on the scope of the alternatives proposed in this 
notice, to announce that public scoping meetings will be conducted, and 
to identify participating agency contacts.

DATES: Written and e-mailed comments on the scope of study, including 
the alternatives to be considered, and the impacts to be assessed, 
should be sent to METRO on or before November 16, 2007. See ADDRESSES 
below for the street address and e-mail address to which written 
comments may be sent. Public scoping meetings to accept

[[Page 56129]]

comments on the scope of the study will be held on the following dates:
     Tuesday, October 23, 2007, at 6 p.m., Desert West 
Community Center, 6501 West Virginia Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85035.
     Thursday, October 25, at 3 p.m., University Park Center, 
350 North 10th Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona 85007.
    An interagency scoping meeting will be held on the following date:
     Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 10 a.m., Valley Metro Rail, 
Inc. (METRO), 101 North 1st Avenue, Suite 1300, Phoenix, Arizona 85003.
    The buildings 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 a 
scoping meeting should contact Maria Hyatt, City of Phoenix City 
Manager's Office, 200 West Washington Street, 12th Floor, Phoenix, AZ 
85003 (Telephone 602-261-8897) at least 48 hours in advance of a 
meeting in order for METRO and the City of Phoenix to make the 
necessary arrangements. Scoping materials will be available at the 
meetings and through the project's Web site at https://
www.metrolightrail.org/I-10West. Hard copies of the scoping materials 
are also available from Mr. Rick Pilgrim whose contact information is 
given in ADDRESSES below.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to the attention of Mr. Rick 
Pilgrim, Valley Metro Rail, Inc., 101 North 1st Avenue, Suite 1300, 
Phoenix, AZ 85003. E-mail: I-10West@metrolightrail.org. Phone: (602) 
495-8216; Fax: (602) 252-7453. The locations of the public scoping 
meetings are given above under DATES.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Hymie Luden, Office of Planning 
and Program Development, Federal Transit Administration, 201 Mission 
Street, Room 2210, San Francisco, CA 94105. Phone: (415) 744-2732. E-
mail: hymie.luden@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Scoping

    The FTA and METRO invite all interested individuals and 
organizations, public agencies, and Native American Tribes to comment 
on the scope of the AA and the EIS, including the project's preliminary 
statement of purpose and need, the alternatives to be studied and the 
impacts to be evaluated. Comments should focus on the purpose and need 
for the proposed project; alternatives that may be less costly or have 
less environmental or community impacts while achieving similar 
transportation objectives; and significant social, economic, or 
environmental issues relating to the alternatives.

Purpose and Need for the Project

    The purpose is defined as follows:
    1. Identify a transit alternative that increases efficient access 
to employment opportunities throughout the Central Phoenix/West Valley 
region.
    2. Identify an improvement that provides effective transit options 
to relieve peak period congestion.
    3. Identify a transit improvement alternative, with a recommended 
alignment and technology, to connect the LRT system currently under 
construction with the West Valley.
    4. Identify a transit improvement alternative that would facilitate 
continued development of a comprehensive and inter-connected regional 
transit network that is multi-modal, that offers a range of effective 
mobility choices for current and future transit riders, and that 
attracts new transit riders to use the growing regional system.
    5. Identify an alternative that improves the efficiency of transit 
operations.
    6. Identify an alternative that provides cost-effective transit 
improvements and expands access to corridor destinations.
    7. Identify a transit alternative that supports economic 
development (including transit-oriented development), and ensures 
enhanced connectivity among existing and planned regional and local 
activity center and attractions.
    Additional considerations supporting the project's need include:
    The Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), adopted by the Maricopa 
Association of Governments (MAG) and financed under the one-half cent 
sales tax extension, identifies 57-miles of major light rail/high 
capacity transit corridors to be implemented by 2026. Currently, the 
20-mile starter segment is under construction. An 11-mile extension 
into west Phoenix is one of five corridors identified in the RTP.
    The City of Phoenix, which spans approximately 515 square miles, is 
the largest city in Arizona, and the fifth largest in the nation. The 
Arizona Department of Commerce estimates the 2006 population of Phoenix 
at approximately 1.5 million. The population of Phoenix is estimated by 
MAG to grow to approximately 2.2 million by 2030. According to the U.S. 
Census Bureau 73 percent of Phoenix workers drove to work alone in 
2005, 16 percent carpooled, 3 percent took public transportation, 4 
percent used other means, and 3 percent worked at home. Commute times 
averaged 26.9 minutes. The City of Phoenix currently operates a bus 
fleet of 485 vehicles with a daily ridership of nearly 154,000, 
providing over 18 million miles of annual service.
    In general, travel on highways and arterials is expected to 
increase by approximately 30 percent between 2004 and 2030 within 
Maricopa County; peak period travel to work is expected to grow by 
about 40 percent; similar trends are anticipated for the City of 
Phoenix. Growth in the City of Phoenix and adjacent jurisdictions has 
caused substantial increases in traffic congestion on the existing 
roadway network, and has generated the need for new or improved public 
transportation service. Even with implementation of the projects 
included in the MAG RTP, service levels in 2030 on the area freeways 
and arterials is expected to deteriorate substantially due to increased 
travel demand, resulting in a significant increase in congestion.
    The MAG 2006 Freeway Level of Service (LOS) Study shows I-10 West 
direction during AM and PM peak hour at LOS E and F for significant 
portions of the study corridor. Preliminary analysis of recent MAG 
traffic modeling for 2030 indicate similar poor LOS conditions in the 
future for the section of I-10 within the study area.
    The AA/EIS will analyze the potential for the proposed high 
capacity transit improvements to address increased demand for travel by 
connecting the project corridor with the LRT Starter Line on Central/
First Avenue.
    Alternatives:
    The alternatives proposed for evaluation include:
     A no-build alternative, which includes the current network 
plus all ongoing, programmed, and committed projects listed in the MAG 
RTP;
     A Transportation Systems Management (TSM) alternative, 
which would include improving existing transit services such as 
additional bus service and routes, and which also serves as a baseline 
for evaluation against which all other alternatives may be compared for 
federal funding purposes (referred to as the FTA Future Baseline and 
implements all of the projects in the No-Build Alternative);
     Bus Rapid Transit alternatives; and
     Light Rail Transit alternatives.
    Each build alternative will explore the construction of new 
transportation infrastructure such as tracks, stations, and maintenance 
yards. Underground, surface and/or aerial design options may be 
developed for each of the build alternative alignments. Multi-modal 
alternatives will also be explored.

[[Page 56130]]

The EIS Process and the Role of Participating Agencies and the Public

    The purpose of the NEPA process is to explore, in a public setting, 
the effects of the proposed project and its alternatives on the 
physical, human, and natural environment. The FTA and METRO will 
evaluate all significant environmental, social, and economic impacts of 
the construction and operation of the proposed project. Impact areas to 
be addressed include: Land use; development potential; secondary 
development; land acquisition, displacements, and relocations; cultural 
resources (including impacts on historical and archaeological 
resources); parklands and recreation areas; visual and aesthetic 
qualities; air quality; noise and vibration; ecosystems (including 
threatened and endangered species); energy use; business and 
neighborhood disruptions; environmental justice; changes in traffic and 
pedestrian circulation and congestion; and changes in transit service 
and patronage. Measures to avoid, minimize, or mitigate any significant 
adverse impacts will be identified and evaluated.
    The methodology for evaluation of impacts will focus on the areas 
of investigation mentioned above. As the public involvement and agency 
consultation process proceeds, additional evaluation criteria and 
impact assessment measures will be included in the analysis. Potential 
alternatives will be developed to a conceptual level, and will be 
screened and ranked against these evaluation criteria and local 
community considerations. Travel time savings, potential for congestion 
reduction and improved mobility options for residents of the City of 
Phoenix and adjacent metropolitan areas will be assessed for the 
transportation alternatives considered. The public involvement program 
and agency coordination plan discussed below will provide the vehicle 
through which these evaluation analyses will be conducted.
    The regulations implementing NEPA, as well as provisions of the 
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 METRO 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.
    A list of interested agencies has been developed, and 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 
person identified above under ADDRESSES.
    A comprehensive Public Involvement Program will be developed, and a 
public and agency involvement Coordination Plan will be created. The 
Public Involvement Program will include a full range of involvement 
activities. Activities 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 upon release of the 
Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS); development and 
distribution of project newsletters and the establishment of a project 
Web site. Opportunities to participate in the scoping process, in 
addition to the public meetings announced in this notice, will be made 
available. Specific mechanisms for involvement will be detailed in the 
Public Involvement Program.
    METRO may seek New Starts funding for the proposed project under 49 
U.S.C. 5309 and will therefore be subject to New Starts regulations (49 
CFR part 611). The New Starts regulations require a planning 
Alternatives Analysis that leads to the selection of a locally 
preferred alternative and the inclusion of the locally preferred 
alternative as part of the long-range transportation plan adopted by 
the MAG. The New Starts regulations also require the submission of 
certain project-justification information in support of a request to 
initiate preliminary engineering, and this information is normally 
developed in conjunction with the NEPA process. Pertinent New Starts 
evaluation criteria will be included in the Final EIS.
    The AA/EIS will be prepared in accordance with NEPA and its 
implementing regulations issued by the Council on Environmental Quality 
(40 CFR parts 1500-1508) and with the FTA/Federal Highway 
Administration regulations ``Environmental Impact and Related 
Procedures'' (23 CFR part 771). 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 to the maximum extent 
practicable. These requirements include, but are not limited to, the 
environmental and public hearing provisions of Federal transit laws (49 
U.S.C. 5301(e), 5323(b), and 5324), 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), and Executive Orders 
12898 on environmental justice, 11988 on floodplain management and 
11990 on wetlands. The Section 4(f) Evaluation will comply with the 
United States Department of Transportation Act (23 CFR 771.135).

    Issued on: September 27, 2007.
Leslie T. Rogers,
Regional Administrator, FTA Region IX.
[FR Doc. E7-19417 Filed 10-1-07; 8:45 am]
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