Federal Transit Administration 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to request the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve the following information collection: 49 U.S.C. 5308Clean Fuels Grant Program.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is seeking nominees to serve on TRACS. The Advisory Committee meets twice a year to advise FTA on transit safety issues. On February 1, 2010, FTA issued an initial notice (75 FR 5172) soliciting nominations to serve on TRACS. From that solicitation, 21 members were chosen, each representing a broad base of expertise relating to rail transit safety. The FTA Administrator (Administrator) has since determined that he would like to seek additional members to serve on TRACS. Specifically, the Administrator would like to augment the TRACS' existing knowledge base with professionals who have done academic research in the safety field.

The FTA, as the lead Federal agency, and the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) are planning to prepare an EIS for the proposed expansion and improvements to the Downtown San Francisco Ferry Terminal at the Port of San Francisco Ferry Building. The proposed project would serve commuters, visitors, and recreational users desiring an alternative way to cross San Francisco Bay, and reach nearby employment, entertainment, and recreational destinations in San Francisco. The project expands the number of ferry gates and improves ferry patron circulation, boarding, and wayfinding in and around the Ferry Building. In addition, the project enhances emergency response capabilities to evacuate people from San Francisco and/or mobilize first responders to San Francisco via ferries if a catastrophic event occurs. The EIS will be prepared in accordance with Section 102(2)C of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and pursuant to the Council on the Environmental Quality's regulations (40 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] parts 1500-08) as well as provisions of the recently enacted Safe, Accountable, Flexible Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). The purpose of this notice is to alert interested parties regarding the intent to prepare an EIS; provide information on the proposed transit project; invite participation in the EIS process, including comments on the scope of the EIS proposed in this notice; and announce when the public scoping meeting will be conducted.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is issuing Circular 6100.1D to provide comprehensive assistance to grantees on guidance on application procedures and project management responsibilities for FTA's National Research Programs.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the discretionary selection of projects for funding using unallocated Major Capital Investment (New Starts) program funds. The funds accelerate federal payments for new fixed guideway projects that are currently under construction.

Section 5334(h) of the Federal Transit Laws, as codified, 49 U.S.C. 5301, et seq., permits the Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to authorize a recipient of FTA funds to transfer land or a facility to a public body for any public purpose with no further obligation to the Federal Government if, among other things, no Federal agency is interested in acquiring the asset for Federal use. Accordingly, FTA is issuing this Notice to advise Federal Agencies that the City of Terre Haute by and through its Board of Public Works intends to transfer a portion of a facility to Indiana State University for use as a parking garage for students, faculty and general public. The portion of the facility being transferred is located on land owned by Indiana State University Board of Trustees and leased to the City of Terre Haute under a forty (40) year ground lease dated January 1, 2006. The facility is located at 750 Cherry Street, Terre Haute, Indiana and is bounded on the west by 7th Street, on the east by 8th Street, on the north by Larry Bird Avenue and on the south by Cherry Street. It is taxed as one parcel 84-06-22-307-002.000-002 but is more specifically comprised of Lots 98, 99, 100, and part of Lots 118, 119, 120 and 120 in Chauncey Rose's Addition to the Town (now city) of Terre Haute. The facility is located on the campus of Indiana State University and is adjacent to the Hulman Civic Center, a commercial office building housing State of Indiana Offices, Hilton Garden Inn and is one block north of the downtown Terre Haute area. The facility to be transferred is comprised of approximately Two- hundred Twenty-eight Thousand (228,000) square feet of parking structure including Six Hundred Twenty-six (626) parking spaces. Construction material includes concrete with brick fa[ccedil]ade. The transfer does not include Eighteen Thousand Three Hundred (18,300) square feet on the east end of the structure occupied by the City of Terre Haute Transit Department.

As part of a Federal Government-wide effort to streamline the process to seek feedback from the public on service delivery, the Department of Transportation (DOT) has submitted a Generic Information Collection Request (Generic ICR): ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery'' to OMB for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) abstracted below is forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget OMB) for review and comments. A Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following information collection was published on December 8, 2010 (Citation 75 FR 76518). No comments were received from that notice.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the selection of projects funded with unallocated Section 5309 discretionary program funds for the Urban Circulator program in support of DOT's Livability Initiative, which was announced in the Urban Circulator Systems Program notice of funding availability on December 8, 2009. The Urban Circulator program makes funds available to assist State and local governmental authorities in constructing new fixed guideway and corridor-based bus capital projects including the acquisition of real property, the initial acquisition of rolling stock for the systems, the acquisition of rights-of-way, and relocation. Through the Urban Circulator Program grants, FTA will invest in five projects that provide a transportation option that connects urban destinations and fosters the redevelopment of urban spaces into walkable mixed use, high density environments.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the selection of projects funded with unallocated Section 5339 Alternatives Analysis Program funds in support of DOT's Livability Initiative, which was announced in the Alternatives Analysis Program Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) on May 28, 2010. The Alternatives Analysis Program assists potential sponsors of major transit capital investments (``New Starts'' and ``Small Starts'' projects) in the evaluation of all reasonable modal and multimodal alternatives and general alignment options to address transportation needs in a defined travel corridor. Through these funding awards, FTA will support a limited number of alternatives analyses, or technical work conducted as part of proposed or on-going alternatives analyses, that seek to advance major transit investments that foster the six livability principles of the DOT-HUD-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities.

This notice corrects Table 3 (FY 2011 Section 5307 and Section 5340 Urbanized Area Apportionments), Table 6 (FY 2011 Small Transit Intensive Cities Performance Data and Apportionments) and Table 10 (Prior Year Unobligated Section 5309 Bus and Bus Related Equipment and Facilities) that were published in the February 8, 2011, (76 FR 6958) Federal Transit Administration (FTA) notice titled ``FTA Fiscal Year 2011 Apportionments, Allocations and Program Information.''

The U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the selection of projects funded in support of the Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction (TIGGER) program and Clean Fuels Grant program which is enhanced with Section 5309 Bus and Bus Facilities program funds. This funding supports the U.S. Department of Transportation's environmental sustainability efforts, which were announced in FTA's notice of funding availability (NOFA) on April 13, 2010. The TIGGER program makes funds available for capital investments that will reduce the energy consumption or greenhouse gas emissions of public transportation systems. The Clean Fuels Grant program makes funds available to assist nonattainment and maintenance areas in achieving or maintaining the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone and carbon monoxide and supports emerging clean fuel and advanced propulsion technologies for transit buses and markets for those technologies.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) as the Federal lead agency, in cooperation with the City of Alexandria, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), and the National Park Service (NPS), is issuing this Notice of Intent (NOI) to advise the public that it proposes to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to assess the potential environmental impacts associated with the proposed construction and operation of the Potomac Yard Metrorail Station. The proposed project, described more completely within, would consist of the construction of a Metrorail infill station along the existing combined Blue and Yellow Lines between the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Station and the Braddock Road Station. The purpose of this notice is to alert interested parties regarding the intent to prepare the EIS, to provide information on the nature of the proposed project and possible alternatives, and to invite public participation in the EIS process.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is establishing an Emergency Relief Docket for calendar year 2011 so grantees and subgrantees affected by national or regional emergencies may request relief from FTA administrative requirements set forth in FTA policy statements, circulars, guidance documents, and regulations. By this notice, FTA is establishing an Emergency Relief Docket for calendar year 2011.

This notice announces final environmental actions taken by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for the following projects: (1) New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal (NOUPT)/Loyola Avenue Streetcar Project, New Orleans Regional Transit Authority, New Orleans, LA; (2) South Corridor: Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Project, Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet), Clackamas, and Portland, Oregon; and (3) Second Avenue Subway Project, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York, NY. The purpose of this notice is to announce publicly the environmental decisions by FTA on the subject projects and to activate the limitation on any claims that may challenge these final environmental actions.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA), as the lead Federal agency, and the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) intend to prepare a Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement (Tier 1 EIS) for the North Red and Purple Line Modernization (RPM) Project in Cook County, Illinois. The CTA operates the rapid transit system in Cook County, Illinois. The proposed project, described more completely within, would bring the North Red and Purple lines up to a state of good repair from the track structure immediately north of Belmont Station in Chicago, Illinois to the Linden terminal in Wilmette, Illinois. The purpose of this Notice of Intent is to (1) alert interested parties regarding the intent to prepare the EIS, (2) to provide information on the nature of the proposed project and possible alternatives, and (3) to invite public participation in the EIS process.