Federal Highway Administration February 14, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The FHWA and FTA are jointly issuing this Revised Notice of Intent (NOI) to advise the public of modifications to the environmental review process for the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). These revisions include the intent of FHWA and FTA to use a tiered process to facilitate project decision-making, and the intent of FHWA and FTA to utilize the environmental review provisions afforded under Section 6002 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). The EIS will build upon the extensive alternatives analysis, environmental and technical studies and public comments and outreach conducted to date, which are available online at the project's Web site (www.tzbsite.com). This NOI revises the NOI that was published in the Federal Register on December 23, 2002. The proposed tiering approach will allow the joint lead agencies to focus on both broad overall corridor issues in a Tier 1 transit analysis of general alignment and mode choice while simultaneously assessing site specific impacts, costs and mitigation measures in a Tier 2 bridge and highway analysis. The scope of analysis in the Tier 1 and Tier 2 will be appropriate to the level of detail necessary for those documents and will receive input from the public and reviewing agencies. The intent of the joint lead agencies is for the Tier 1 and Tier 2 analyses to be developed concurrently in order to maximize the efficiencies and potential for multimodal solutions. The Tier 1 transit analysis will provide the basis for a corridor level decision on transit mode(s), alignment(s), and logical termini within the Corridor and sufficient detail of impact assessments and preliminary engineering to allow the Tier 2 highway and bridge elements to proceed to final design and construction. Because the transportation needs of the corridor require a multimodal solution, the highway, bridge, and transit elements are intricately tied to one another and require iterative and concurrent development, analysis and consideration up to the decision on mode and alignment. Once the transit mode and alignment decisions are made, the analysis can focus on the needs of the corridor which includes the structural needs of the existing Tappan Zee Bridge and associated highway network, while preserving the transit corridor within the existing right of way. Additional purposes of this revised NOI are to: Advise the public of lead agency roles. Outline how the provisions of SAFETEA-LU Section 6002 will be met. Update interested parties regarding the current approach to preparing the EIS. Provide updated information on the proposed project, purpose and need for the project, and range of alternatives. Re-invite participation in the EIS process, including comments on the refined scope of the EIS proposed in this notice. Announce the dates, times and locations of upcoming scoping update meetings.