Federal Highway Administration October 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The FHWA is issuing this notice to advise the public that an Environmental Impact Statement is being prepared for a proposed highway improvement project on State Trunk Highway 15 in Outagamie County, Wisconsin, to be conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. The Notice of Intent (NOI) was originally prepared in 2003 but was inadvertently overlooked for submittal to the Federal Register for publication. Environmental activities, including involvement of state and federal agencies and other stakeholders, proceeded since the initiation of the project in 2003. Over five years have passed, and the process is now at the final Environmental Impact Statement stage. FHWA acknowledges the oversight and has now begun activities to recover from the inadvertent omission. The Environmental process will be brought up to date and made compliant with the 2005 SAFETEA-LU Environmental Review process, including development of a coordination plan and impact assessment methodologies. In the event other items in the process need to be updated to comply with SAFETEA- LU, the FHWA and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation will ensure those items are revised, as well.

Section 1301 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) (Pub. L. 109-59; 119 Stat. 1144) established a program to provide grants to States for Projects of National and Regional Significance (PNRS) to improve the safe, secure, and efficient movement of people and goods throughout the United States and to improve the health and welfare of the national economy. Section 1301 requires the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) to establish regulations on the manner in which the proposed projects will be evaluated and rated, in order to determine which projects shall receive grant funding. This rule establishes the required evaluation and rating guidelines for proposed projects. Under this rule, a proposed project would be eligible for funding under the PNRS Program (Program) only if the Secretary finds that the project meets the eligibility requirements of the rule. The Secretary will then evaluate and rate each project as ``highly recommended,'' ``recommended,'' or ``not recommended'' based on the results of preliminary engineering, the project justification criteria, and the degree of non-Federal financial commitment. All funds authorized by section 1101(a)(15) of SAFETEA-LU for the Program are fully designated to the 25 projects listed in section 1301(m) of SAFETEA-LU. For the duration of SAFETEA-LU there are no additional funds available for distribution beyond those already designated, and there are no assurances that any additional funds will become available. Funding in future highway reauthorization bills is at the discretion of Congress.

The FHWA is issuing this notice to advise the public that an environmental impact statement will not be prepared for the Lake County, Illinois, Transportation Improvement Project.

This document announces the fifth meeting of the Motorcyclist Advisory Council to the Federal Highway Administration (MAC-FHWA). The purpose of this meeting is to advise the Secretary of Transportation, through the Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, on infrastructure issues of concern to motorcyclists, including: (1) Barrier design; (2) road design, construction, and maintenance practices; and (3) the architecture and implementation of intelligent transportation system technologies, pursuant to section 1914 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU).

This notice provides information regarding the FHWA's finding that a Buy America waiver is appropriate for certain steel products used in Federal-aid bridge construction projects in North Carolina.

This notice announces that the FHWA and the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (State) have developed a proposed MOU, pursuant to 23 U.S.C. 326, under which the FHWA would assign to the State the FHWA's responsibility for determining whether a project is categorically excluded from preparation of an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. (NEPA), and for carrying out certain other responsibilities for conducting environmental reviews, consultations, and related activities for Federal-aid highway projects. The public is invited to comment on any aspect of the proposed MOU, including the proposed designations of categorical exclusions and scope of environmental review, consultation and other activities to be assigned.

The FHWA is issuing this notice to advise the public that the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process for proposed highway improvements to Trunk Highway (TH) 10 in Otter Tail and Wadena Counties, Minnesota is terminated. The original Notice of Intent for this EIS process was published in the Federal Register on March 27, 2003.

The FHWA is issuing this notice to advise the public that the Tier I Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process for proposed highway improvements to Trunk Highway (TH) 10 in Sherburne County, Minnesota is terminated. The original Notice of Intent for this Tier I EIS process was published in the Federal Register on July 28, 2003.

The FHWA is updating a previous notice of intent (issued on Friday, June 3, 2005) to advise the public that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be prepared for a proposed highway improvement project along US 113 in south central Sussex County, Delaware.

This notice provides information regarding the FHWA's finding that a Buy America waiver is appropriate for certain steel products used in Federal-aid construction projects in Maine, California, and Oregon.

This notice rescinds the previous Notice of Intent (issued July 14, 2001) to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for improvements to State Route 56 through West End of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Studied improvements extended from the east of Minersville to north of Oakhurst through Johnstown, Tannerville Coopersdale, Morrelville, Cambria City, and Minersville.

The FHWA is issuing this notice to advise the public that an environmental impact statement will be prepared for a proposed highway project from NC 107 to U.S. 23-74 east of Sylva, Jackson County, NC. (TIP Project R-4745.)