Federal Transit Administration November 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) intend to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and an evaluation per 49 U.S.C. 303 and 23 CFR part 774 (``Section 4(f)'') for MARTA's I-20 East Heavy Rail Transit (HRT) Extension project, which would extend the existing Blue Line from the Indian Creek MARTA Station to the Mall at Stonecrest in eastern DeKalb County. The EIS and Section 4(f) Evaluation will be prepared in accordance with regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Section 4(f), as well as FTA's regulations and guidance implementing NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500 through 1508 and 23 CFR 771.105). The extension of the existing MARTA Blue Line HRT was selected as a component of a multimodal Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) resulting from the I-20 East Transit Initiative Detailed Corridor Analysis (DCA) completed in April 2012. The LPA also includes new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service along I-20 between downtown Atlanta and a new station at Wesley Chapel Road, east of I-285 in DeKalb County. The NEPA analysis for the BRT project is being advanced separately in an Environmental Assessment (EA). The FTA originally published a NOI to perform federal environmental review for the entire I-20 East Transit Initiative LPA on August 28, 2012 (77 FR 52128). Project scoping activities for the I-20 East Transit Initiative LPA occurred in September 2012. In today's issue of the Federal Register, FTA is rescinding the August 28, 2012 NOI and issuing this notice to advise interested agencies and the public regarding updates to the Purpose and Need of the LPA that have occurred since the scoping activities. Specifically, the Purpose and Need for both the HRT Extension project and the BRT project have been revised to reflect their distinct and independent utility. The revised Purpose and Need for the HRT Extension project is presented later in this Notice.

This notice announces final environmental actions taken by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for projects in San Diego, CA; Tarrant County, TX; and Washington, DC. 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) has placed in the docket and on its Web site proposed guidance in the form of seven additional proposed circular chapters to assist transportation providers in meeting the requirements of the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations. These proposed circular chapters include Chapter 3 (Transportation Facilities), Chapter 6 (Fixed Route Service), Chapter 7 (Demand Responsive Service), Chapter 9 (ADA Paratransit Eligibility), Chapter 10 (Passenger Vessels), Chapter 11 (Other Modes), and Chapter 12 (Oversight, Complaints, and Monitoring). Also included is additional text on monitoring practices, published as addenda to Chapter 2 (General Requirements) and Chapter 8 (Complementary Paratransit Service). Along with the proposed Chapter 4 (Vehicle Acquisition) published on October 2, 2012, and Chapter 1 (Introduction and Applicability), Chapter 2 (General Requirements), Chapter 5 (Equivalent Facilitation), and Chapter 8 (Complementary Paratransit Service) published on February 19, 2014, these chapters are part of a series of 12 chapters that will compose a complete ADA circular. By this notice, FTA invites public comment on these seven additional proposed circular chapters and the addenda to two previously published chapters.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the selection of public transportation resilience projects in response to Hurricane Sandy under the Emergency Relief Program. These projects are funded under the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013, which made approximately $10.9 billion available for public transportation systems impacted by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. This amount was subsequently reduced to $10.2 billion by sequestration and intergovernmental transfers of funds to other bureaus and offices within DOT. On December 26, 2013, FTA published a Federal Register Notice (78 FR 78486) announcing the availability of approximately $3 billion for projects that will reduce the risk of damage from future disasters in the areas impacted by Hurricane Sandy. FTA has allocated the maximum amount available for resilience projects: $3.592 billion. Resilience projects awarded in this notice are subject to the recently issued Final Rule for the Emergency Relief Program, which was published in the Federal Register on October 7, 2014 (79 FR 60349). FTA has published additional guidance on policies and procedures for competitive resilience funding in the form of frequently asked questions (FAQs) at www.fta.dot.gov/emergencyrelief. Recipients are responsible for monitoring this Web site for additional guidance.