Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for Proposed Transit Improvements to the Yellow Line, Cook County, IL, 45273-45275 [E9-20964]

Agencies

• Federal Transit Administration
• DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 168 (Tuesday, September 1, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45273-45275]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-20964]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration


Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for Proposed 
Transit Improvements to the Yellow Line, Cook County, IL

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Department of 
Transportation.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement.

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SUMMARY: The FTA, as the Federal lead agency, and the Chicago Transit 
Authority (CTA) intend to prepare an environmental impact statement 
(EIS) for the Yellow Line Extension Project in Cook County, Illinois. 
CTA operates the rapid transit system in Chicago, Cook County, 
Illinois. The proposed project, described more completely within, would 
extend the Yellow Line, a heavy rail transit line, to connect the 
Dempster Street Station to Old Orchard Road. The purpose of this Notice 
of Intent is to alert interested parties regarding the intent to 
prepare the EIS, to provide information on the nature of the proposed 
project and possible alternatives and to invite public participation in 
the EIS process.

DATES: Written comments on the scope of the EIS, including the 
project's purpose and need, the alternatives to be considered, the 
impacts to be evaluated, and the methodologies to be used in the 
evaluations should be sent to CTA on or before October 27, 2009. See 
ADDRESSES below for the address to which written public comments may be 
sent. A public scoping meeting to accept comments on the scope of the 
EIS will be held on the following date:
     Wednesday, September 23, 2009; 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.; at the 
Oakton Community Center, 4701 Oakton Street, Skokie, IL 60076.
    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 the 
scoping meeting should contact Mr. Darud Akbar, Government and 
Community Relations Officer, at 312-681-2708 or 
dakbar@transitchicago.com, five days prior to the meeting.
    Scoping materials describing the project purpose and need and the 
alternatives proposed for analysis will be available at the meetings 
and on the CTA Web site https://www.transitchicago.com/YellowEIS. Paper 
copies of the scoping materials may also be obtained from Mr. Darud 
Akbar, Government and Community Relations Officer, at 312-681-2708 or 
dakbar@transitchicago.com. An interagency scoping meeting will be held 
on Thursday, September 24 at 8 a.m. at CTA Headquarters, in Conference 
Room 2C, 567 W. Lake Street, Chicago, IL 60661. Representatives of 
Native American tribal governments and of all Federal, State, regional 
and local agencies that may have an interest in any aspect of the 
project will be invited to be participating or cooperating agencies, as 
appropriate.

ADDRESSES: Comments will be accepted at the public scoping meetings or 
they may be sent to Mr. Jeffrey Busby, General Manager, Strategic 
Planning, Chicago Transit Authority, P.O. Box 7602, Chicago, IL 60680-
7602, or via e-mail at YellowExtension@transitchicago.com.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. David Werner, Community Planner, 
Federal Transit Administration, Region V, 200 West Adams Street, Suite 
320, Chicago, IL 60606, phone 312-353-3879, e-mail 
david.werner@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Scoping

    The FTA and CTA invite all interested individuals and 
organizations, public agencies, and Native American Tribes to comment 
on the scope of the EIS, including the project's purpose and need, the 
alternatives to be studied, the impacts to be evaluated, and the 
evaluation methods to be used. Comments should address (1) Alternatives 
that may better achieve the project's need and purposes at less cost or 
with fewer adverse impacts, and (2) any significant environmental 
impacts relating to the alternatives.
    National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) ``scoping'' (40 CFR 
1501.7) has specific and fairly limited objectives, one of which is to 
identify the significant issues associated with alternatives that will 
be examined in detail in the document, while simultaneously limiting 
consideration and development of issues that are not truly significant. 
It is in the NEPA scoping process that potentially significant 
environmental impacts--those that give rise to the need to prepare an 
environmental impact statement--should be identified; impacts that are 
deemed not to be significant need not be developed extensively in the 
context of the impact statement, thereby keeping the statement focused 
on impacts of consequence. Transit projects may also generate 
environmental benefits; these should be highlighted as well--the impact 
statement process should draw attention to positive impacts, not just 
negative impacts.
    Once the scope of the environmental study, including significant 
environmental issues to be addressed, is settled, an annotated outline 
of the document will be prepared and shared with interested agencies 
and the public. The outline serves at least three worthy purposes, 
including (1) Documenting the results of the scoping process; (2) 
contributing to the transparency of the process; and (3) providing a 
clear roadmap for concise development of the environmental document.

[[Page 45274]]

Purpose and Need for the Project

    The purpose of the Yellow Line Extension project is to improve 
transit accessibility and provide mobility options by better utilizing 
existing transportation infrastructure capacity. The investment would 
also support the Village of Skokie's land use plans.
    The need for the project is based on the following considerations: 
There is a significant reverse commute to the project area that is not 
well served by the current Yellow Line terminal location; travelers on 
the existing system must make multiple transfers to reach activity and 
employment centers in the project area; and transit alternatives will 
allow a portion of study area trips to avoid continued growth in 
project area arterial street and expressway congestion. In addition, 
proposed extensions of the CTA Yellow Line from its current terminus at 
Dempster Street are part of the Chicago region's long range 
transportation plan developed by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for 
Planning (CMAP).

Project Location and Environmental Setting

    The proposed heavy rail transit (HRT) project area lies about 12 
miles north of the Chicago Central Area (commonly referred to as the 
``Loop''). The limits of the project area are Dempster Street on the 
south and Old Orchard Road on the north. The project area is bounded by 
Interstate 94 (Edens Expressway) on the west and lies within the 
Village of Skokie. The project area is highly developed, with 
significant residential (primarily single family), institutional 
facilities (government offices and schools), transportation and 
commercial (retail and office) developments.
    The locally preferred alternative (LPA) for the proposed Yellow 
Line Extension project was approved by the Chicago Transit Board for 
further study in the EIS on August 12, 2009. The proposed Yellow Line 
Extension would extend the heavy rail transit line from Dempster Street 
Station, the current terminus of the Yellow Line, north along the Union 
Pacific Railroad (UPRR) right-of-way from Dempster Street to the 
vicinity of Old Orchard Road. The extension would include 1.6 new route 
miles of rapid transit added to the existing Yellow Line, 
reconfiguration of the existing Dempster Street Station, and a new 
station in the vicinity of Old Orchard Road with bus access and parking 
facilities.

Alternatives

    The Yellow Line Extension Final Alternatives Analysis Report (2009) 
prepared by CTA identified three alternatives for further consideration 
in the EIS. The three alternatives include: A No Build Alternative, 
Transportation System Management (TSM) Alternative, and the Fixed 
Guideway Alternative (the LPA).
    No Build Alternative: The No Build Alternative is defined as the 
existing transportation system, plus any committed transportation 
improvements. Committed transportation improvements include projects 
that are already in the CMAP financially constrained Transportation 
Improvement Program (TIP). The Yellow Line project area has a number of 
projects included in the FY 2007--2012 TIP.
    There are three intersection improvements along Skokie Boulevard in 
the TIP including the intersections of Dempster Street, Golf Road and 
Old Orchard Road. Road improvements in the TIP that would most affect 
the Yellow Line extension project area are the widening of Old Orchard 
Road from Harms Road to Skokie Boulevard and the expansion of the 
northbound Edens off-ramp lanes. In addition to a variety of 
resurfacing projects, Dempster Street is scheduled to be reconstructed 
and widened to Central Road.
    Bus transit service under the No Build Alternative would be focused 
on the preservation of existing services and projects. Although outside 
the project area, a significant transit improvement included in the No 
Build Alternative is the construction of a Yellow Line station at 
Oakton Street to serve the Skokie downtown and surrounding 
developments. All elements of the No Build Alternative are included in 
each of the other alternatives.
    Transportation System Management (TSM) Alternative: A TSM 
Alternative is proposed because it is required as part of the New 
Starts evaluative process; in this case, it does not meet the purposes 
of and need for the proposed project. The TSM Alternative is Bus Rapid 
Transit (BRT) that would operate on a 1.7 mile alignment between the 
Yellow Line Dempster Street Station and Westfield Shoppingtown Old 
Orchard Mall via Dempster Street, Niles Center Road, Skokie Boulevard, 
Golf Road, and Lavergne Avenue. Proposed BRT service would operate in 
mixed traffic with traffic signal priority on the Dempster Street, 
Niles Center Road, Skokie Boulevard, and Golf Road portion of the 
route.
    The TSM Alternative would not include any intermediate stops. There 
would be no exclusive lanes along any portion of the route. The 
terminal stop would be at the existing bus transfer station located on 
the east side of Old Orchard Mall. A new park and ride facility would 
be constructed near the proposed terminal stop at Old Orchard Road. The 
TSM alternative assumes that all bus routes in the study area will 
continue current operations.
    Fixed Guideway Alternative/LPA: The proposed LPA would proceed 
northbound on a single track alignment within the UPRR right-of-way 
from Dempster Street to the area north of Golf Road. Beginning north of 
Golf Road, the alignment curves east, paralleling the east side of the 
Edens Expressway on an elevated profile to the proposed terminal 
location on the south side of Old Orchard Road. The elevated profile 
eliminates grade crossings between Dempster Street and Old Orchard 
Road.
    The LPA would include a new station at Dempster Street to 
accommodate longer length trains and support bi-directional ridership 
demands. The elevated alignment would place the new station centered 
above Dempster Street providing enhanced station accessibility from the 
north and south parking areas without requiring pedestrians to cross 
Dempster Street. Bus transfer, taxi, entrance and parking areas at the 
Dempster Station would be reconfigured for the new elevated station.
    The terminal station would be located east of the expressway and in 
the northwest portion of the Niles North High School (NNHS) property. 
The transit station and associated facilities would displace up to 230 
parking spaces currently in the NNHS lot to the north of the campus. 
These spaces would be replaced by a multi-story parking structure with 
dedicated school parking (to replace all displaced parking spaces) and 
dedicated commuter parking.
    The LPA is 1.6 miles long and would not include any intermediate 
stops. CTA and Pace bus services would be rerouted to pass through an 
off-street facility on the east side of the rapid transit station and 
continue to the existing bus transfer station at Old Orchard Mall.
    No existing residences, businesses, or park/recreational areas 
would have to be acquired to accommodate the HRT single-track extension 
between Dempster Street and Golf Road. Some right-of-way would need to 
be acquired from the Illinois Department of Transportation along the 
Edens Expressway and land would need to be acquired from the NNHS 
property.

Possible Effects

    The purpose of this EIS process is to study, in a public setting, 
the effects of the proposed project and its alternatives on the quality 
of the human

[[Page 45275]]

environment. Areas of investigation for transit projects generally 
include, but are not limited to: Land use, development potential, land 
acquisition and displacements, historic resources, visual and aesthetic 
qualities, air quality, noise and vibration, energy use, safety and 
security, and ecosystems, including threatened and endangered species; 
investigation may reveal that the proposed project will not affect or 
affect substantially many of those areas. Measures to avoid, minimize, 
or mitigate any significant adverse impacts will be identified.

FTA Procedures

    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 CTA do the 
following: (1) Extend an invitation to other Federal and non-Federal 
agencies and Native American 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 to 
help 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 or cooperating agency, with scoping materials appended, 
will be extended to other Federal and non-Federal agencies and Native 
American tribes that may have an interest in the proposed project. It 
is possible that FTA and CTA will not be able to identify all Federal 
and non-Federal agencies and Native American tribes that may have such 
an interest. Any Federal or non-Federal agency or Native American 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 and a Coordination Plan 
for public and interagency involvement will be developed for the 
project and posted on CTA's Web site https://www.transitchicago.com/YellowEIS. The public involvement program includes a full range of 
activities including maintaining the project webpage on the CTA Web 
site and outreach to local officials, community and civic groups, and 
the public. Specific activities or events for involvement will be 
detailed in the project's public participation plan.
    The Paperwork Reduction Act seeks, in part, to minimize the cost to 
the taxpayer of the creation, collection, maintenance, use, 
dissemination, and disposition of information. Consistent with this 
goal and with principles of economy and efficiency in government, it is 
FTA policy to limit insofar as possible distribution of complete 
printed sets of environmental documents. Accordingly, unless a specific 
request for a complete printed set of environmental documents is 
received (preferably in advance of printing), FTA and its grantees will 
distribute only the executive summary of the environmental document 
together with a Compact Disc of the complete environmental document. A 
complete printed set of the environmental document is available for 
review at the grantee's offices and elsewhere; an electronic copy of 
the complete environmental document is also available on the grantee's 
Web page.
    CTA may seek New Starts funding for the proposed project under 49 
United States Code 5309 and will, therefore, be subject to New Starts 
regulations (49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 611). The New 
Starts regulations also require the submission of certain project-
justification information to support a request to initiate preliminary 
engineering. This information is normally developed in conjunction with 
the NEPA process. Pertinent New Starts evaluation criteria will be 
included in the EIS.
    The 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).

    Issued on August 24, 2009.
Marisol R. Simon,
Regional Administrator, Federal Transit Administration, Region V.
[FR Doc. E9-20964 Filed 8-31-09; 8:45 am]
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