Federal Highway Administration 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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. 139(l)(1). The actions relate to a proposed highway project, State Route 1 Gleason Beach Roadway Realignment Project, District 04-SON-1 p.m. 15.1/15.7 located between Bodega Bay and Jenner in the County of Sonoma, State of California. Those actions grant licenses, permits, and approvals for the project.

This notice announces a funding opportunity and requests grant applications from eligible entities as FHWA continues the Accelerated Innovation Deployment (AID) Demonstration authorized within the Technology and Innovation Deployment Program (TIDP) under the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The AID Demonstration provides incentive funding for activities eligible for assistance in any phase of a highway transportation project between project planning and project delivery including: Planning, financing, operation, structures, materials, pavements, environment, and construction that address the TIDP goals. The FHWA expects approximately $10 million to be made available for AID Demonstration in each of Fiscal Years (FY) 2016 through 2020 from amounts authorized under section 6002 of the FAST Act.

The Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act builds on the authorities and requirements in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) and the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). The FAST Act also builds on efforts under FHWA's Every Day Counts to accelerate delivery of surface transportation projects by institutionalizing best practices and expediting complex infrastructure projects. The Secretary, in cooperation with the States, must submit recommendations to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate recommendations on legislation to permit the assumption of additional authorities by States. The FAST Act specifically asks for recommendations in the areas of real estate acquisition and project design. In order to implement section 1316 of the FAST Act, FHWA is soliciting feedback from States and other stakeholders on additional authorities to assume under title 23, including real estate acquisition and project design. The FHWA will collect suggestions during a 60-day period. At the end of that period, FHWA will assess suggestions prior to providing a Report to Congress.

This notice announces actions taken by the FHWA and other Federal agencies that are final within the meaning of 23 U.S.C. 139(l)(1). The actions relate to a proposed highway project, I-55 from I-355 to I-90/94 in Will, DuPage and Cook Counties, Illinois. Those actions grant licenses, permits, and approvals for the project.

FHWA announces the establishment of the Emergency Route Working Group (ERWG) for a 2-year period. The ERWG will provide the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, through the Administrator of the FHWA, with advice and recommendations for the implementation of best practices for expeditious State approval of special permits for vehicles involved in emergency response and recovery. The ERWG will provide the U.S. Secretary of Transportation a written report by December 4, 2016, on its findings and recommendation for the implementation of best practices for expeditious State approval of special permits for vehicles involved in emergency response and recovery. The ERWG's advice and recommendations will work within existing legal authorities and not require changes in State or Federal law for DOT to implement.

FHWA is issuing this notice to advise the public that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be prepared for proposed transportation improvements in Cache County, Utah.

The Surface Transportation Project Delivery Program (23 U.S.C. 327) allows a State to assume FHWA's environmental responsibilities for review, consultation, and compliance for Federal-aid highway projects. When a State assumes these Federal responsibilities, the State becomes solely responsible and liable for carrying out the responsibilities it has assumed, in lieu of FHWA. Prior to the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act of 2015, the program required semiannual audits during each of the first 2 years of State participation to ensure compliance by each State participating in the program. This notice presents the findings of the second audit report for the Texas Department of Transportation's (TxDOT) participation in accordance to these pre-FAST Act requirements.

This notice provides information regarding FHWA's finding that a Buy America waiver is appropriate for the obligation of Federal-aid funds for 49 State projects involving the acquisition of vehicles and equipment on the condition that they be assembled in the U.S.

The FHWA, on behalf of Caltrans, is issuing this notice to announce actions taken by Caltrans that are final. The actions relate to the proposed interchange improvement project on Interstate 405 (I- 405) from Western Avenue to W. 182nd Street in the City of Torrance within the County of Los Angeles, State of California. Those actions grant licenses, permits, and approvals for the project.

Section 1413 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act requires the Secretary of Transportation to designate national electric vehicle (EV) charging, hydrogen, propane, and natural gas fueling corridors. The FHWA is issuing this Federal Register Notice to invite nominations from State and local officials to assist in making such designations.

This notice announces a funding opportunity and requests grant applications for FHWA's Tribal Transportation Program Safety Funds (TTPSF). In addition, this notice identifies selection criteria, application requirements, and technical assistance during the grant solicitation period for the TTPSF. The TTPSF is authorized within the Tribal Transportation Program (TTP) under the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The FHWA will distribute these funds as described in this notice on a competitive basis in a manner consistent with the selection criteria.

This notice announces actions taken by the FHWA that are final within the meaning of 23 U.S.C. 139(l)(1). The actions relate to the Interstate 66 Outside the Beltway project in Fairfax and Prince William Counties, Virginia. Those actions grant licenses, permits, and approvals for the project.

The FHWA and FTA propose revisions to the transportation planning regulations to promote more effective regional planning by States and metropolitan planning organizations (MPO). The goal of the proposed revisions is to result in unified planning products for each urbanized area (UZA), even if there are multiple MPOs designated within that urbanized area. Specifically it would result in MPOs developing a single metropolitan transportation plan, a single transportation improvement program (TIP), and a jointly established set of performance targets for the entire urbanized area and contiguous area expected to become urbanized within a 20-year forecast period for the transportation plan. If multiple MPOs are designated within that urbanized area, they would jointly prepare these unified planning products. To accomplish this, the proposed revisions clarify that the metropolitan planning area must include the entire urbanized area and contiguous area expected to become urbanized within 20 years. These proposed revisions would better align the planning regulations with statutory provisions concerning the establishment of metropolitan planning area (MPA) boundaries and the designation of MPOs. This includes the statutory requirement for the MPA to include an urbanized area in its entirety, and the exception provision to allow more than one MPO to serve a single MPA if warranted by the size and complexity of the MPA. The rulemaking would establish clearer operating procedures, and reinstate certain coordination and decisionmaking requirements for situations where there is more than one MPO serving an MPA. The proposed rule includes a requirement for unified planning products for the MPA including jointly established performance targets within an MPA, and a single metropolitan transportation plan and TIP for the entire MPA in order to result in planning products that reflect the regional needs of the entire urbanized area. These unified planning products would be jointly developed by the multiple MPOs in such MPAs where more than one MPO is designated. The FHWA and FTA propose to phase in implementation of these proposed coordination requirements and the proposed requirements for MPA boundary and MPO boundaries agreements over 2 years.

This notice provides information regarding FHWA's finding that a Buy America waiver is appropriate for the use of non-domestic Voith 21/R5 propulsion units compatible with domestic Caterpillar engine 3512C/1600 rpm in the State of Virginia.

The FHWA, on behalf of Caltrans, is issuing this notice to announce actions taken by Caltrans, and USFWS, that are final within the meaning of 23 U.S.C. 139(l)(1). The actions relate to a proposed highway project on Interstate 15 from Cajalco Road, Post Mile (PM) 36.8 to State Route 60 (SR-60) PM 51.4 through the cities of Corona, Norco, Eastvale, and Jurupa Valley, and portions of incorporated Riverside County, State of California. Those actions grant licenses, permits, and approvals for the project.

This notice provides information regarding FHWA's finding that a Buy America waiver is appropriate for the re-use of historical U.S. 40 steel bridge truss members for construction of a bicycle and pedestrian bridge over Little Blue River in the City of Grandview in the State of Missouri.

This notice provides information regarding FHWA's finding that a Buy America waiver is appropriate for the use of non-domestic galvanized steel cable, galvanized cylindrical sockets, galvanized spherical nuts, galvanized open spelter socket, and stainless steel bollard lamps for the San Elijio Lagoon Pedestrian Bridge/I-5 North Bikeway in the State of California.

This final rule amends FHWA and FTA categorical exclusions (CE) for projects receiving limited Federal assistance to reflect a requirement in the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act to index for inflation the monetary thresholds for these CEs. This final rule also implements a provision in the FAST Act that directs FHWA to amend its rules on programmatic agreements for CEs. The amendments contained in this rule reflect statutory language in the FAST Act.

This rule makes a technical correction to the regulations that govern the enforcement of the Heavy Vehicle Use Tax. The amendments contained herein make no substantive changes to FHWA regulations, policies, or procedures. The current regulation references a section of the United States Code that was later amended by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21).

This notice announces actions taken by Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and Federal agencies that are final within the meaning of 23 U.S.C. 139(l)(1). The actions relate to a proposed highway project, US 183 North (the ``183 North Mobility Project'') from State Highway (SH) 45/Ranch-to-Market (RM) 620 in Williamson County to State Loop 1 (MoPac) in Travis County in the State of Texas. Those actions grant licenses, permits, and approvals for the project.

This notice provides information regarding FHWA's finding that a Buy America waiver is appropriate for the use of non-domestic motor and machinery brakes (maximum torque 100 ft-lb, wheel size 8 inches) for the rehabilitation of a bascule bridge in Port Clinton, Ohio.

The geometric design standards for projects on the National Highway System (NHS) are incorporated by reference in FHWA regulations in 23 CFR 625 and apply regardless of funding source. These design standards are comprehensive in nature, covering a multitude of design characteristics, while allowing flexibility in application. Exceptions may be approved on a project basis for designs that do not conform to the minimum or limiting criteria set forth in the standards, policies, and standard specifications. The FHWA is updating its 1985 policy regarding controlling criteria for design, applicable to projects on the NHS, to reduce the number of controlling criteria from 13 to 10, and to apply only 2 of those criteria to low speed roadways. The FHWA is also issuing guidance to clarify when design exceptions are needed and the documentation that is expected to support such requests. The FHWA's guidance memorandum, which is available in the docket (FHWA-2015-0020), transmits this policy to FHWA field offices.

This notice announces actions taken by the FHWA and other Federal agencies that are final within the meaning of 23 U.S.C. 139(l)(1). The actions relate to the I-5 interchange with NW., 319th Street/La Center Road (La Center Interchange Improvements) Project in the State of Washington. The action by FHWA is the Record of Decision (ROD) that selects improvements to the I-5 La Center Interchange as traffic mitigation measures for construction of the Cowlitz Reservation Development. The Cowlitz Reservation Development was the subject of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) ROD of April 2013. Actions by other Federal agencies include issuing amendments to previously issued permits.

The 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 are required to publish this notice in the Federal Register by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

This NPRM is the third in a series of three related NPRMs that together establishes a set of performance measures for State departments of transportation (State DOT) and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) to use as required by Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). The measures proposed in this third NPRM would be used by State DOTs and MPOs to assess the performance of the Interstate and non-Interstate National Highway System (NHS) for the purpose of carrying out the National Highway Performance Program (NHPP); to assess freight movement on the Interstate System; and to assess traffic congestion and on-road mobile source emissions for the purpose of carrying out the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program. This third performance measure NPRM also includes a discussion that summarizes all three of the national performance management measures proposed rules and the comprehensive regulatory impact analysis (RIA) to include all three NPRMs.