Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for Proposed Intermodal Transit Improvements in Hercules, CA, 60307-60310 [E9-27896]

Agencies

• Federal Transit Administration
• DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 223 (Friday, November 20, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60307-60310]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-27896]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration


Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for Proposed 
Intermodal Transit Improvements in Hercules, CA

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

ACTION: Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS).

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SUMMARY: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) in cooperation with 
the City of Hercules, CA (City) is planning to prepare a joint 
Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) 
for the construction of a proposed intermodal transit center project 
which includes a new passenger train station on the existing Capitol 
Corridor line, a transit bus terminal, access roadways, and parking 
facilities, located in Hercules, California. The project would serve 
commuters, visitors and recreational users who desire an alternative 
way to travel to and from the City of Hercules and the San Francisco 
Bay area and the Sacramento area to access employment, entertainment, 
and recreational destinations. This EIS/EIR will not study a ferry 
terminal as part of the proposed project. Any future ferry terminal 
will be evaluated under a separate environmental document. However, the 
potential for a future ferry terminal will be considered in the 
cumulative impact analysis for this project. The purpose of this Notice 
of Intent (NOI) is to alert interested parties on the preparation of an 
EIS/EIR, to provide information on the proposed transit project, to 
invite participation in the EIS/EIR process, including comments on the 
scope of the EIS/EIR, and to announce the public scoping meeting that 
will be conducted.

DATES: The City of Hercules has already initiated coordination with 
Federal, State and local agencies. On November 18th, 2009, the City of 
Hercules participated in an interagency meeting hosted at the U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers office in San Francisco, California and presented an 
overview of the project and invited agency comment on the proposed 
project. Through the development of a public and agency coordination 
plan, coordination with responsible and cooperating agencies will 
continue throughout the review of the EIR/EIS and through permit 
coordination.
    A scoping meeting will be held on December 8th, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. 
at the Hercules Library, Large Conference Room, 109 Civic Drive, 
Hercules, CA. Written comments on the scope of the EIS/EIR 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 Lisa Hammon, Assistant City Manager, City 
of Hercules, 111 Civic Drive, Hercules CA 94547 by December 23, 2009. 
Comments may also be offered at the scoping meeting.
    The general public and agency representatives with an interest in 
the proposed project are encouraged to attend this public meeting. The 
project's purpose and need and the description of alternatives for the 
proposed project will be presented at this meeting. Representatives of 
Native American Tribal governments and 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: The scoping meeting will be held on December 8th, 2009 at 
5:30 p.m. at the Hercules Library, Large Conference Room, 109 Civic 
Drive, Hercules, CA. The meeting facilities will be accessible to 
persons with disabilities. If special translation or signing services 
or other special accommodations are needed, please contact Lisa Hammon, 
Assistant City Manager, at (510) 799-8251, or by e-mail at: 
LHammon@ci.hercules.ca.us at least 48 hours before the scoping meeting. 
Paper copies of scoping materials may be obtained from Lisa Hammon. 
Also, scoping materials will be available at the meetings and on the 
City of Hercules Web site [https://www.ci.hercules.ca.us].
    Written comments on proposed project should be sent to Lisa Hammon, 
Assistant City Manager, City of Hercules, 111 Civic Drive, Hercules, CA 
94547 by December 23, 2009.
    Further Information: For further information contact Paul Page, 
Federal Transit Administration, San Francisco Regional Office at (415) 
744-3133.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Scoping: The FTA and the City of Hercules 
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 focus on: alternatives that may be less costly or 
have fewer environmental or community impacts while achieving similar 
transportation objectives, and the identification of any significant 
social, economic or environmental issues related to alternatives. This 
is not considered a transit project of unusual complexity. Therefore, 
in line with CEQ 1502.7 (page limits) FTA is setting a limit of 250 
pages (exclusive of technical appendices) for this EIS. The document 
should emphasize graphics, maps and visual simulations, minimize 
technical jargon and be accessible to members of the public with 
limited technical expertise.
    Description of Study Area and Proposed Project: The project site is 
located in Hercules, California, on the shoreline of San Pablo Bay (a 
part of San Francisco Bay), approximately 1 mile northwest of 
Interstate 80 (I-80). This is the City's Waterfront District which has 
been planned for transit oriented development. Project components would 
include: (1) Grade separation and realignment of a portion of the 
existing Union Pacific railroad tracks, including the construction of a 
rail platform, retaining walls and the replacement of a bridge crossing 
Refugio Creek; (2) construction of a station building; (3) extension of 
John Muir Parkway, including the construction of Bayfront Boulevard 
over Refugio Creek, a new Transit Loop Drive, Civic Plaza and surface 
parking; (4) realignment and restoration of a portion of Refugio Creek 
from San Pablo Bay upstream approximately 1000 feet to the existing 
restored segment; (5) construction of segments of the East Bay Park 
Regional District's recreational trail along the shoreline from Pinole 
trail to Victoria by the Bay; and, (6) a pedestrian walkway over the 
railroad tracks to provide a connection to the Hercules Point open 
space area. The project will also require the relocation of existing 
utility and gas lines and an outfall to Refugio Creek.
    Purpose and Need for the Project: Residents of the San Francisco 
Bay Area depend heavily on region wide and transbay commuting. Despite 
the use of existing public transit services, particularly rail and 
buses, traffic congestion continues to increase, affecting hundreds of 
thousands of Bay Area residents and creating both economic and 
environmental costs. The severity of congestion will increase in the 
future as population and employment in the Bay Area increase. The 
purpose of the proposed project is to increase local and regional 
mobility and transportation options by providing new and expanded 
transit services with intermodal connections that will encourage use of 
public transit. The project would provide bus-to-train connections, in 
addition to providing car commuters with access to new transit options 
that would divert traffic from I-80, the most congested corridor in the 
Bay Area for the past six years. An expanded and more convenient 
transit system with new train connections to existing bus services 
would provide commuters with more options and would primarily decrease 
car usage and its associated impacts, rather than divert riders from 
existing

[[Page 60309]]

buses, BART, or Capitol Corridor. Key project objectives are to:
    1. Reduce vehicle trips on Interstate 80, the most congested 
freeway in the Bay Area, by providing alternatives to commuting in 
single occupant vehicles.
    2. Provide coordinated, intermodal transit connections by bus, 
train, and a potential future ferry and human-powered connections by 
bicycling and walking for transport to/from jobs, recreational uses, 
educational opportunities, etc.
    3. Improve emergency response by having rail and (ultimately) ferry 
service available in case of a natural or man-made disaster that 
disables the Bay Bridge or other highways/roadways. Ferry and rail 
service could also deliver goods and services in an emergency.
    4. Support transit-oriented development and ``new urbanist'' 
standards by providing the transportation links within the 43-acre 
waterfront development which also includes housing (including 
affordable housing), retail, office, and commercial space.
    5. Improve safety along the railroad corridor by providing 
completely grade-separated access to the railroad tracks from the 
adjacent development by constructing a series of retaining walls and 
fences for approximately one mile along the waterfront and by 
constructing over-crossings to Hercules Point and the future ferry 
terminal.
    6. Implement the Goals, Policies and Programs in the City of 
Hercules General Plan to:
     Develop transportation facilities to provide access to the 
region, particularly public transit systems (buses, ridesharing, rail 
transit, as well as potential over-water transit) (Land Use Policy 3A, 
Circulation Policy e).
     Establish trail linkage between Pinole and Rodeo as part 
of the regional bay access trail system (Land Use Program 14A.2 and 
Open Space/Conservation Policy 1b) and continue to improve and protect 
Refugio Creek as a major environmental amenity (Program 14.A.3).
    7. Improve Refugio Creek to allow adequate flows into the Bay 
without resulting in flooding.
    8. Implement the City of Hercules Waterfront Master Plan Initiative 
and its directive to construct an intermodal transit center on Block I.
    Alternatives: The EIS/EIR will include a Build alternative. 
Included in the Build analysis will be design alternatives to the 
proposed project that will meet both NEPA and CEQA requirements and are 
intended to reduce potential environmental effects, including impacts 
to sensitive biological habitat. A No Action (No Build) alternative 
will also be evaluated in the EIS/EIR which would continue with the 
existing bus services without the construction of a train station and a 
new bus terminal at the same location. This alternative serves as the 
baseline against which the environmental effects of the proposed 
project and other alternatives will be evaluated.
    Traffic congestion is an ongoing and steadily increasing problem in 
the Bay Area, regardless of economic conditions. Alternatives to reduce 
traffic congestion have been explored in numerous previous studies. 
According to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the Bay 
Bridge approach corridor along Interstate 80 (I-80) from State Route 4 
(SR-4) in Hercules to the Bay Bridge experiences the worst congestion 
in the Bay Area. Caltrans' Bay Area monitoring program found that 
between 1992 and 2005, traffic delay in the region as a whole more than 
doubled from 64,100 hours to 135,700 hours. According to Caltrans' 2006 
report, between 2001 and 2005, traffic delay on the I-80 segment from 
SR-4 to the Bay Bridge metering lights increased by 16 percent, from 
9,410 hours to 10,930 hours (MTC 2007). This segment includes the 
stretch of I-80 that passes near the proposed HITC project. MTC 
projects that traffic congestion will continue to worsen; by 2020, MTC 
expects that Bay Bridge traffic will increase by 50 percent and be ``at 
capacity'' for nearly five hours a day during the morning and afternoon 
peak hours. MTC also predicts that many more Bay Area workers, due to 
high housing costs, will be living far from their jobs, demanding that 
they spend more time commuting and polluting on roadways. Even during 
an economic downturn, BART runs at capacity through the Transbay Tube 
during peak hours. Improvements in commuter bus service are dependent 
upon traffic flow, and are limited by the need for more road capacity 
and more dedicated High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes for significant 
expansion. Increased train and transit services would provide expanded 
commute capacity while avoiding corresponding increases in traffic 
congestion.
    Additionally, the San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit Authority 
(WTA), now the Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA), is a 
regional agency authorized by the State of California to operate a 
comprehensive San Francisco Bay Area public water transit system. In 
2003, the WTA's plan, ``A Strategy to Improve Public Transit with an 
Environmentally Friendly Ferry System'' (the Plan) was approved by 
statute (Senate Bill 915, Ch. 714, stats of 2003). The Plan drew on 
extensive technical studies that examined ridership demand, cost 
effectiveness, vessel design, environmental impacts, safety, and 
operations. A Hercules-San Francisco route was identified in the Plan 
as a potential future ferry route. The potential environmental effects 
of proposed new ferry service on San Francisco Bay under the WTA Plan 
were studied at a program planning level in the Program Environmental 
Impact Report (Program EIR) prepared in 2003. The 2003 Program EIR 
included analysis of a Hercules/Rodeo location and seven other 
potential new ferry service locations around the Bay and Delta. While 
ferry service is anticipated for the city of Hercules, current planning 
for the ferry is still in development and is considered a future 
project. The current project proposes only to construct a rail and bus 
transit facility.
    As part of the General Plan for the City of Hercules, the proposed 
project is intended to be the central element of a transit-oriented 
development (TOD) project that will include residential and commercial 
development clustered around transit facilities to enable local 
residents to use public transit and reduce the need for automobile use. 
The planned TOD, known as Hercules Bayfront, is not part of the project 
considered in this EIR/EIS, and will be the subject of a separate 
environmental review.
    Probable Effects/Potential Impacts for Analysis: The purpose of the 
EIS process is to explore in a public setting potentially significant 
effects of implementing the proposed project and alternatives on the 
physical, human, and natural environment.
    Implementation of the project components will result in direct 
effects to the physical environment and may include the loss of special 
aquatic sites such as tidal wetlands, mudflats, and riparian areas. 
Mitigation will be incorporated into the project design by first 
avoiding and minimizing impacts to resources. Compensatory mitigation 
will be provided for unavoidable impacts. Based on preliminary 
investigations for special status species the project may affect, but 
is unlikely to adversely affect, any species listed as threatened or 
endangered under the State or Federal endangered species acts.
    The proposed project would extend the John Muir Parkway, provide 
parking for short-term and long-term parking, and develop a new access 
point to commuter rail. Each of these activities may encourage 
automobile traffic in the

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area that could adversely affect levels of service at nearby 
intersections.
    FTA Procedures: Regulations implementing NEPA, as well as 
provisions of SAFETEA-LU, call for public involvement in the EIS 
process. Section 6002 of SAFETEA-LU requires that FTA 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; 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 
agency 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 
City at the ADDRESSES or phone number above.
    A comprehensive public involvement program has been developed. A 
technical advisory committee called the Project Development Team, 
consisting of representatives of State, regional and local agencies, is 
in place. The program also includes a public scoping process, a public 
review/comment period and public hearing on the Draft Environmental 
Impact Statement, development and distribution of project newsletters 
and posting of information on the project Web site. The purposes of and 
need for the proposed project have been preliminarily identified in 
this notice. We invite the public and participating agencies to 
consider the preliminary statement of purposes of and need for the 
proposed project, as well as potential alternatives, and the public is 
welcome to use the public scoping process to further define the issues 
of concern among all parties interested in the project. Comments on 
potential significant environmental impacts that may be associated with 
the proposed project are also welcomed. All comments and suggestions 
will be given serious consideration. Comments on potentially 
significant environmental impacts that may be associated with the 
proposed project are also welcomed. There will be additional 
opportunities to participate in the scoping process at the public 
meetings announced in this notice. 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 
regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality implementing NEPA 
(40 CFR parts 1500-1508 and 23 CFR part 771), the project-level air 
quality conformity regulation of the U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA) (40 CFR part 93), section 404(b)(1) guidelines of EPA (40 
CFR part 230), Executive Orders 11988, 11990 and 12898 regarding 
floodplains, wetlands, and environmental justice, respectively; Section 
106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (36 CFR Part 800); 
Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (50 CFR part 402); and Section 
4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act (23 CFR 774). The EIR 
portion of the document will be prepared in accordance with the 
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the California Code of 
Regulations, Title 14, section 15000 et seq.

    Dated: November 13, 2009.
Leslie T. Rogers,
Federal Transit Administration.
[FR Doc. E9-27896 Filed 11-19-09; 8:45 am]
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