Federal Highway Administration February 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This NPRM provides interested parties with the opportunity to comment on proposed changes to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) joint procedures that implement the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The revisions are prompted by enactment of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). This NPRM proposes to add new categorical exclusions for projects within an existing operational right-of-way and projects receiving limited Federal funding, as described in MAP-21. The Agencies seek comments on the proposals contained in this document.

This notice provides information regarding the FHWA's finding that a Buy America waiver is appropriate for the use of non-domestic (1) Electrical Controls and Electrical Equipment; (2) Main Drive Electrical Motor; (3) Auxiliary Drive Electric Motor; (4) Span Lock Electric Motor & Controls for a specific project in the State of Washington.

FHWA invites public comments about our intention to request the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval for a new information collection, which is summarized below under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. We published a Federal Register Notice with a 60-day public comment period on this information collection on November 23, 2012. We are required to publish this notice in the Federal Register by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

FHWA invites public comments about our intention to request the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval for a new information collection, which is summarized below under Supplementary Information. We published a Federal Register Notice with a 60-day public comment period on this information collection on November 23, 2012. We are required to publish this notice in the Federal Register by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The FHWA, on behalf of Caltrans, is issuing this notice to announce actions taken by Caltrans, that are final within the meaning of 23 U.S.C. Sec. 139(l)(1). The actions relate to a proposed highway project on the West Mission Bay Drive crossing of the San Diego River flood control channel between West Mission Bay Drive/Sea World Drive intersection and the Sports Arena Boulevard/I-8 intersection in the County of San Diego, State of California. Those actions grant licenses, permits, and approvals for the project.

The FHWA is issuing this notice to advise the public that a Tier Two Environmental Impact Statement will be prepared for the Illiana Corridor in Will and Kankakee Counties, Illinois and Lake County, Indiana.

This final rule makes revisions to the joint Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) regulations that implement the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The revisions are aimed at streamlining the FTA environmental process for transit projects, in response to the August 31, 2011, Presidential Memorandum titled ``Speeding Infrastructure Development through More Efficient and Effective Permitting and Environmental Review.'' The revisions also respond to Executive Order 13563's directive to periodically review existing regulations to determine if they can be made more effective and/or less burdensome. The new categorical exclusions (CEs) established by this rule, which affect actions by FTA and FTA grant applicants, are intended to improve the efficiency of the environmental review process by making available the least intensive form of review for those actions that typically do not have the potential for significant environmental effects, and, therefore, do not merit additional analysis and documentation associated with an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement.