Federal Highway Administration April 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The FHWA is issuing this notice to advise the public that an environmental impact statement will be prepared for a proposed highway project in the City of San Diego, California.

The FHWA is issuing this approved final nationwide programmatic Section 4(f) evaluation (programmatic evaluation) for use in certain Federal (Federal-aid or Federal Lands Highway) transportation improvement projects where the use of publicly owned property from a Section 4(f) park, recreation area, or wildlife and waterfowl refuge or property from a historic site results in a net benefit to the Section 4(f) property. The application of this programmatic evaluation is intended to promote environmental stewardship by encouraging the development of measures that enhance Section 4(f) properties and to streamline the Section 4(f) process by reducing the time it takes to prepare, review and circulate a draft and final individual Section 4(f) Evaluation (individual evaluation) that documents compliance with Section 4(f) requirements. This programmatic evaluation provides a procedural option for demonstrating compliance with the statutory requirements of Section 4(f) and is an addition to the existing nationwide programmatic evaluations, all of which remain in effect. This programmatic evaluation can be applied to specific project situations that fit the criteria contained in the Applicability section. To fully realize the streamlining benefits of this programmatic evaluation, the FHWA and the Applicant (defined later) are encouraged to initiate coordination with the official(s) with jurisdiction (defined later) over a Section 4(f) property as early as possible and practicable to facilitate the assessment of benefits and harm to a Section 4(f) property.

This document withdraws a proposed rulemaking action developed to revise the regulations governing the highway bridge replacement and rehabilitation program (HBRRP). The FHWA proposed to clarify ambiguous language, incorporate long-standing FHWA policies, and provide flexibility by including an alternate program applicable to all bridges, both on and off the Federal-aid system. However, during the comment period, we received comments questioning the legal authority for the alternative program as well as the quantitative benefits and impacts of the program. To evaluate these questions and issues, the FHWA is withdrawing the proposed rulemaking and intends to consider establishment of a special experimental program to quantitatively evaluate the benefits of the approach proposed in the alternative program.

This final rule amends the FHWA regulation that specifies the traffic noise prediction method to be used in highway traffic noise analyses. The final rule requires the use of the FHWA Traffic Noise Model (FHWA TNM) or any other model determined by the FHWA to be consistent with the methodology of the FHWA TNM. It also updates the specific reference to acceptable highway traffic noise prediction methodology and removes references to a noise measurement report and vehicle noise emission levels that no longer need to be included in the regulation. Finally, it makes four ministerial corrections to the section on Federal participation.