Early Scoping Notification for the Alternatives Analysis of the GA 400 Transit Initiative in Fulton County, Georgia, 53187-53189 [2013-20996]

Agencies

• Federal Transit Administration
• DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 167 (Wednesday, August 28, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53187-53189]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-20996]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration


Early Scoping Notification for the Alternatives Analysis of the 
GA 400 Transit Initiative in Fulton County, Georgia

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

ACTION: Notice of early scoping meeting.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Metropolitan 
Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) issue this early scoping notice 
to advise other agencies and the public that they intend to explore 
potential alternatives for providing high-capacity transit in the GA 
400 corridor in north Fulton County, GA from Dunwoody to Alpharetta 
that would improve transit linkages and coverage to communities within 
this corridor and would enhance mobility and accessibility to and 
within the corridor by providing a more robust transit network that 
offers an alternative to automobile travel. This notice invites the 
public and agency officials to help support the ongoing alternatives 
analysis and system planning effort by commenting on the project's 
purpose and need, the project study area, the alternatives being 
considered, the transportation problems that are being addressed by the 
alternatives analysis study, public participation and outreach methods, 
the relevant transportation and community impacts and benefits being 
considered, known environmental issues raised by public and agency 
coordination to date, and the projected capital and operating costs of 
this project.
    The early scoping process is intended to support the alternatives 
analysis and a future National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) scoping 
process and will help streamline the future development of an 
environmental impact statement (EIS), if warranted. In addition, it 
supports FTA planning requirements associated with the New Starts 
(``Section 5309'') funding program for certain kinds of major capital 
investments. While recent legislation has led to changes in the New 
Starts process, MARTA will comply with all relevant FTA requirements 
relating to planning and project development to help analyze and screen 
alternatives in preparation for the NEPA process.
    Public meetings are described immediately below. A more detailed 
discussion of the project and this early scoping process is included in 
sections that follow.

DATES: An early scoping meeting where the public and interested 
agencies can learn more about and comment on the scope of the 
alternatives analysis will be held on September 26, 2013, at 6:30 p.m. 
to 8:30 p.m. The location of this meeting is indicated under ADDRESSES 
below.
    At the early scoping meeting, MARTA will provide information on the 
alternatives analysis progress along with opportunities for written 
comments. Written or electronic scoping comments are requested by 
October 28, 2013, and can be sent or emailed to the MARTA project 
manager at the address below. Comments may also be offered at the early 
scoping meeting.

ADDRESSES: Written or electronic comments should be sent to Ms. Janide 
Sidifal, Project Manager, MARTA, 2424 Piedmont Road NE., Atlanta GA 
30324-3330 or by email to connect400@itsmarta.com. If submitting an 
electronic comment, please type ``Connect 400 Early Scoping Comment for 
MARTA'' in the subject line of the email. MARTA maintains a Facebook 
page for the Connect 400 project and will notify Facebook followers, in 
conjunction with publication of this notice, to submit comments to the 
aforementioned email address as well. The address for the early scoping 
meeting is as follows:
    Alpharetta City Hall, 2 Main Street, Alpharetta, GA 30009.
    The meeting location is accessible to persons with disabilities. If 
translation, signing services, or other special accommodations are 
needed, please contact the Project Manager, Ms. Janide Sidifall at 
jsidifall@itsmarta.com or 404-848-5828; or the Senior Director of 
Transit System Planning, Mr. Don Williams at drwilliams@itsmarta.com or 
404-848-4422 at least one week before the scoping meeting.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Keith Melton, Community Planner, 
FTA Region IV, 230 Peachtree Street NW., Suite 800, Atlanta, GA 30303 
or email: keith.melton@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Early Scoping

    Early scoping is an optional early step in the NEPA process that 
precedes NEPA scoping, which normally begins when the FTA and the grant 
applicant publish a notice of intent to prepare an EIS. FTA encourages 
the use of early scoping for major planning activities and studies that 
may receive other FTA funding as a way to start the NEPA process during 
earlier project planning phases. Early scoping is intended to generate 
public and agency review and

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comments on the scope of a planning effort within a defined 
transportation corridor, which helps the agency to determine which 
particular alignment variations, should receive more focused study and 
development to streamline the NEPA process. Early scoping can serve not 
only to streamline the NEPA process, but also to firmly link 
transportation planning and NEPA; making sure that the public and 
interested agencies are given the opportunity to review and provide 
comments on the results of planning activities and studies that can 
then be used to inform the NEPA process. Early scoping for the GA 400 
Transit Initiative is being conducted in support of NEPA requirements 
and in accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) and 
FTA's regulations and guidance for implementing NEPA (40 CFR 1501.2 
through 1501.8 and through 23 CFR 771.111), which encourage federal 
agencies to initiate NEPA early in their planning processes. Early 
scoping allows the scoping process to begin as soon as there is enough 
information to describe the proposal so that the public and relevant 
agencies can participate effectively. This is particularly useful in 
situations when a proposed action involves a broadly defined corridor 
with an array of transit investment alternatives. This early scoping 
notice invites public and agency involvement with the ongoing 
supplementary planning activities and studies for the GA 400 Transit 
Initiative, including review of the (a) Purpose and need, (b) the 
proposed alternatives, and (c) the potential environmental, 
transportation, and community impacts and benefits to consider during 
the NEPA process.

The GA 400 Transit Initiative and the Regional Transit System

    The GA 400 Corridor Alternatives Analysis (AA) was initiated by 
MARTA in late 2011 to identify potential and feasible transit modal 
alternatives in the GA 400 corridor to address travel demands. The GA 
400 corridor is the transportation spine of northern Fulton County, one 
of the fastest growing sub-regions in the metro-Atlanta region. The GA 
400 Corridor AA addresses the travel market in a study area generally 
extending north along GA 400 from I-285 in Dunwoody to the Fulton/
Forsyth County line north of Alpharetta, a distance of approximately 15 
miles. The corridor is home to many employment centers, including 
Perimeter Center in the southern portion of the corridor, one of the 
largest employment centers for the region. Transit service to and 
within the study area is provided primarily by MARTA heavy rail and 
bus. The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) also operates 
two bus routes that connect the southern portion of the GA 400 corridor 
with express bus service at peak hours from the north and southeast 
from outside the GA 400 corridor. Rail service extends from Downtown 
Atlanta to the major retail and employment centers, including the 
Medical Center and Perimeter Center in Dunwoody and Sandy Springs in 
the southern portion of the corridor. MARTA Bus service primarily 
functions as feeder service to MARTA heavy rail stations from areas to 
the north, including Roswell, Alpharetta and Milton. A number of the 
bus routes and the MARTA heavy rail stations service park-and-ride 
facilities.

Purpose and Need for the Proposed Project

    MARTA invites comments on the following preliminary statement of 
the project's purpose and need.
    The purpose of the project is to provide reliable, convenient, 
efficient, and sustainable transit service in the GA 400 corridor by:
     Providing high capacity transit (bus and/or rail) through 
the GA 400 corridor study area;
     Improving transit linkages and coverage to communities 
within the study area; and
     Enhancing mobility and accessibility to and within the 
study area by providing a more robust transit network that offers an 
alternative to automobile travel.
    The need for this project arises from the following:
     Travel demand--Increased travel demand and traffic 
congestion;
     Transit mobility--There is inadequate transit connectivity 
within the northern Fulton study area and between the study area and 
DeKalb, Gwinnett, and Cobb Counties and central Atlanta. In addition, 
east-west transit connectivity is inadequate. The limited routes across 
the Chattahoochee River reflect the inadequate transit connectivity;
     Transit travel times--Transit travel times are not 
competitive with auto travel times due to the lack of express service; 
this is true for north-south trips within the study area and for trips 
with origins and destinations outside the study area. Transit and auto 
travel times cannot be compared for east-west trips as there is no 
east-west transit service;
     Economic development--Traffic congestion caused by 
insufficient transportation system capacity affects both personal 
travel and goods movement, which constrains economic development 
opportunities; and
     Air quality--The continued growth of vehicular travel will 
negatively affect air quality in the study area and the region.

Potential Alternatives

    MARTA is exploring alternative transit mode, alignment, and design 
options for high capacity transit service in the GA 400 corridor using 
a three-step evaluation process. The three-step evaluation process 
includes a Fatal Flaw Analysis, Screen 1 and Screen 2 and is generally 
characterized by the application of an increasingly detailed and 
comprehensive set of performance measures to a decreasing number of 
alternatives. Each step in the evaluation process focuses the analysis 
on progressively fewer alternatives with higher levels of scrutiny. In 
addition, the Build Alternatives are compared not only to each other 
but also to the No-Build Alternative, which provides the benchmark for 
establishing the travel benefits, environmental impacts of the 
alternatives and the cost-effectiveness of the alternatives. The GA 400 
Corridor Transit Initiative is currently in Screen 2. After 
consideration of the findings of the first and second steps in the 
evaluation process, MARTA has identified an alignment that would 
provide approximately 11.9 miles of transit service along the GA 400 
corridor within existing right-of-way from the existing North Springs 
MARTA station to Windward Parkway. This alignment is referred to as the 
GA 400-1A Build Alternative. Bus rapid transit (BRT), heavy rail 
transit (HRT), and light rail transit (LRT) are the three transit modes 
or technologies being considered for this corridor. The three modes 
each have the same general alignment, following GA 400 from North 
Springs MARTA station to Windward Parkway. The LRT and the BRT 
alternatives have six stations from south to north: Northridge, Holcomb 
Bridge, Mansell Road, North Point Mall, Old Milton and Windward 
Parkway. The HRT alternative is similar, but it does not include a 
station at Old Milton. The outcome of Screen 2 will be the 
recommendation of the preferred alternative. MARTA may also consider 
other alternatives that arise during the early scoping comment period.

FTA Procedures

    At the end of the alternatives analysis process, FTA and MARTA 
anticipate identifying a preferred mode and corridor for further 
evaluation during the NEPA process. The classification of the NEPA 
documentation will be determined by the FTA at the end of the

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alternatives analysis. If the preferred mode and alignment involve the 
potential for significant environmental impacts an EIS may be required. 
If an EIS is required, a Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS will be 
published in the Federal Register by FTA and the public and interested 
agencies will have the opportunity to participate in a review and 
comment period on the scope of the EIS.

    Issued on: August 23, 2013.
Yvette G. Taylor,
Regional Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2013-20996 Filed 8-27-13; 8:45 am]
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