Federal Transit Administration September 16, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) issue this early scoping notice to advise other agencies and the public that they intend to explore, in the context of the Council on Environmental Quality's early scoping process, methods of improving transit capacity and service in the Harbor Subdivision Transit Corridor of Los Angeles, California. The early scoping process is part of a planning Alternatives Analysis (AA) required by Title 49 United States Code (U.S.C.) Sec. 5309, that will lead to the selection of the alternatives that will be subject to the appropriate environmental process. Early scoping meetings have been planned and are announced below. The Harbor Subdivision Transit Corridor is approximately 35 miles in length and includes; 26.36 miles of the Harbor Subdivision that is owned by LACMTA (BNSF Railway currently has some freight operations on the ROW), approximately 2.5 miles to the north of the LACMTA-owned portion right-of-way that would provide the connection to downtown Los Angeles, and approximately 3.5-6 miles south of the LACMTA-owned portion of the right-of-way that would provide a possible connection to the Metro Harbor Transitway, Metro Blue Line, Port of Los Angeles Waterfront Red Car Line or any other destinations or transit facilities that would attract potential ridership. The Metro-owned Harbor Subdivision Line extends 26.36 miles from Harbor Junction at the north, near downtown Los Angeles just east of the intersection of Washington Boulevard and Santa Fe Avenue and Watson Yard at the south, in Wilmington just east of Pacific Coast Highway (U.S. Highway 1) and Alameda Street. The Harbor Subdivision connects or runs adjacent to major destinations and transportation hubs including Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Metro Blue Line, Harbor Transitway and the Port of Los Angeles. The Corridor traverses twelve jurisdictions including the cities of Los Angeles, Vernon, Huntington Park, Inglewood, El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Carson and the County of Los Angeles. As it passes through these communities, it traverses residential neighborhoods, commercial and warehousing districts and industrial areas including oil fields and refineries. LAX lies to the west of the rail line along Aviation Boulevard near Century Boulevard. The conclusion of the planning Alternatives Analysis is expected to be the selection of a set of alternatives by the LACMTA and the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), which is the official metropolitan planning organization for Los Angeles. The set of alternatives will then be the ``proposed action'' that are subject to an appropriate environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). If the selected set of alternatives would have significant impacts, an environmental impact statement (EIS), combined with a California environmental impact report (EIR) would be initiated with a Notice of Intent in the Federal Register and distribution of a Notice of Preparation (NOP) required under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Public and agency scoping of the EIS/EIR would be conducted at that time. In particular, the purpose and need for the project, the range of alternatives to be considered in the EIS/EIR, the environmental and community impacts to be evaluated, and the methodologies to be used, would be subject to public and interagency review and comment, in accordance with 23 U.S.C. 139 and CEQA.