Federal Highway Administration January 30, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is issuing this notice to advise the public of the availability of a Partially Revised Draft Tier 1 EIS for the Placer Parkway Corridor Preservation Project, a proposed transportation corridor in western Placer and eastern Sutter Counties, California. Specifically, the action being considered and evaluated is to select and preserve a 500- to 1,000-foot-wide corridor in the project study area, within which the future four- or six-lane Placer Parkway may be constructed. Placer Parkway is intended to reduce anticipated congestion on both the local and regional transportation system and to advance economic development goals in south Sutter County and southwestern Placer County. Five corridor build alternatives and a no-build alternative are evaluated in the Draft Tier 1 EIS. Although the Parkway would be designed and construction-level impacts analyzed during Tier 2, for the purpose of the Draft Tier 1 EIS, several assumptions have been made about potential design and configuration concepts. These assumptions would be subject to further development and refinement, and specific decisions about design of the roadway would be made during the Tier 2 process. The Parkway would be a high-speed, limited access roadway. Conceptually, interchanges would be located at SR 70/99 (at one-half mile north of Riego Road or at Sankey Road), one or two locations to be determined in southern Sutter County, Fiddyment Road, Foothills Boulevard, and SR 65 at Whitney Ranch Parkway. Access would be restricted for the 7-mile segment between Pleasant Grove Road and Fiddyment Road. The Draft Tier 1 EIS assumes no interchanges in this segment. Revisions to the Draft Tier 1 EIS and Additional Analyses in the Partially Revised Draft Tier 1 EIS: The Partially Revised Draft Tier 1 EIS serves as a supplement to the Draft Tier 1 EIS issued in June 2007, to reflect additional analyses developed since the publication of the prior draft. The Partially Revised Draft Tier 1 EIS provides revisions to the Draft Tier 1 EIS, including updates to farmland classification data and greenhouse gas emissions. It also includes additional analyses of growth inducement, secondary and indirect impacts and cumulative impacts based on hypothetical future scenarios prepared for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Public Review and Comment Period: Comments regarding the Partially Revised Draft Tier 1 EIS shall be accepted beginning on January 30, 2009 and must be submitted in writing by 5 p.m. on March 15, 2009 to Placer County Transportation Planning Agency (PCTPA) via regular mail to PCTPA, Attention: Celia McAdam, Executive Director, 299 Nevada St., Auburn, California 95603, or via e-mail to pctpa@pctpa.net.