Department of Transportation October 11, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Through this NOI, FRA announces it will prepare a Programmatic EIS and Environmental Impact Report (EIR) jointly with the Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC) and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) for the Coachella ValleySan Gorgonio Pass Rail Corridor Service (Project). FRA, RCTC, and Caltrans will develop the Programmatic EIS/EIR in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). FRA invites the public and Federal, state, and local agencies to provide input into the scope of the EIS/ EIR and will consider all information from outreach activities when preparing the EIS/EIR. The Project will study options for providing intercity passenger rail service between the cities of Los Angeles and Indio, California also known as the Coachella ValleySan Gorgonio Pass Corridor (the Corridor).

On August 26, 2016, FRA published a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Long Bridge Project jointly with the District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT) (81 FR 59036). The Proposed Action consists of potential improvements to Long Bridge and related railroad infrastructure located between the Virginia Railway Express (VRE) Crystal City Station in Arlington, Virginia and Control Point (CP) Virginia in Washington, DC. In announcing its intent, FRA and DDOT established a 30-day public comment period that was scheduled to end on September 26, 2016. In consideration of requests for additional time to comment, FRA and DDOT are extending the scoping comment period to October 14, 2016. The extension provides agencies and the public with 30 days to submit comments following public and interagency scoping meetings held on September 14, 2016.

The FHWA, on behalf of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), is issuing this notice to advise the public that a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be prepared for proposed highway improvements on Interstate 605 (I-605) and State Route 60 (SR-60). The limits of the Interstate 605 (I-605) and State Route 60 (SR-60) Improvement Project (Project) will traverse the cities of Baldwin Park, El Monte, City of Industry, Pico Rivera, South El Monte, Whittier, and unincorporated Los Angeles County. Improvements on I-605 are proposed from south of Slauson Avenue to the I-605/Interstate 10 (I-10) Interchange, and improvements on SR-60 are proposed from Santa Anita Avenue to east of Turnbull Canyon Road. A Project Study Report- Project Development Study (PSR-PDS) for the Project was approved in December 2015 (not attached).

FMCSA announces receipt of applications from 12 individuals for exemption from the vision requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. They are unable to meet the vision requirement in one eye for various reasons. The exemptions will enable these individuals to operate commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce without meeting the prescribed vision requirement in one eye. If granted, the exemptions would enable these individuals to qualify as drivers of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce.

This notice announces an upcoming meeting of the Port Performance Freight Statistics Working Group (hereafter, ``Working Group''). The Working Group will provide advice and recommendations to the BTS Director pursuant to Section 6018 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act on matters related to port performance measures, including: (a) Specifications and data measurements to be used in the Port Performance Freight Statistics Program established under subsection 6018(a); and (b) a process for the Department to collect timely and consistent data, including identifying safeguards to protect proprietary information described in subsection 6018(b)(2). The Working Group will operate in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) and the rules and regulations issued in implementation of that Act. This notice also announces the opening of a 14-day public comment period for the Working Group's draft Work Plan, available at https:// www.bts.gov/bts/port_performance. This draft Work Plan identifies the schedule, agenda items, and anticipated follow-up actions for each of the Working Group's four meetings.

PHMSA proposes to revise its regulations pertaining to the Hazardous Materials grants program to incorporate the Office of Management and Budget's Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, and to implement new requirements set forth by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act of 2015. PHMSA invites all interested persons to provide comments regarding these intended revisions.

This Notice finalizes updates to the USOA and changes to NTD Automatic Passenger Counter Certification requirements.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all The Boeing Company Model 737-600, -700, -700C, -800, -900 and -900ER series airplanes. This AD was prompted by an evaluation by the design approval holder (DAH) indicating that certain fastener locations in the window corner surround structure are subject to widespread fatigue damage (WFD). This AD requires repetitive high frequency eddy current (HFEC) inspections for cracking in certain fastener locations in the window corner surround structure, and repair if necessary. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct fatigue cracking around certain fastener locations that could cause multiple window corner skin cracks, which could result in rapid decompression and consequent loss of structural integrity of the airplane.