Federal Transit Administration – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995), this notice announces that the Information Collection Requirements (ICRs) abstracted below have been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICR describe the nature of the information collection and their expected burdens. The Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following collections of information was published on March 14, 2017 (82 FR 13923).

This notice announces final environmental actions taken by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for projects in Cambridge, Medford, and Somerville, Massachusetts; King County, Washington; and Elgin, Illinois. 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.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces that the Information Collection Requirements (ICRs) abstracted below have been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICR describe the nature of the information collection and their expected burdens. The Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following collections of information was published on March 14, 2017.

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 revisions of the following information collection: Charter Service Operations.

This action withdraws an FTA advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM), The National Public Transportation Safety Plan, the Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan, and the Public Transportation Safety Certification Training Program; Transit Asset Management. FTA has issued separate notices of proposed rulemakings for the several rules included in the ANPRM, under different RIN numbers. Accordingly, FTA is not using RIN 2132-AB20 for any of the notices of proposed rulemakings and therefore the ANPRM is withdrawn.

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 (the ``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 Wisconsin Department of Transportation intends to transfer a building to the City of Rice Lake (the ``City''). This transfer also includes a 31% interest in the real property. The building is located at 326 South Main Street, Rice Lake, Wisconsin (hereinafter the ``Building'').

The FTA, in cooperation with the Washington County Regional Railroad Authority (WCRRA) and the Metropolitan Council, is issuing this notice to advise the public that the NOI to prepare an EIS for the proposed Gateway Corridor project from Saint Paul to Woodbury in Ramsey and Washington Counties, Minnesota, is being rescinded.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces that the Information Collection Requirements (ICRs) abstracted below have been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICR describe the nature of the information collection and their expected burdens. The Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following collections of information was published on December 9, 2016.

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 revisions of the following information collection:

In accordance with the White House memorandum issued on January 20, 2017 regarding a ``Regulatory Freeze Pending Review,'' this notice delays the effective dates of the Award Management Requirements Circular and the Buy America Handbook until March 21, 2017.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the availability of a final Programmatic Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Transit Projects (Programmatic Assessment) and an accompanying Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) Estimator Tool (Estimator Tool). On November 22, 2016, FTA announced in the Federal Register the availability of the draft Programmatic Assessment and Estimator Tool and requested public comment. FTA received five comment letters and presents its responses to those comments in this notice.

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 revision of the following information collection: Metropolitan and Statewide and Nonmetropolitan Transportation Planning.

FTA has placed in the docket and on its Web site a proposed General Directive to address safety risks associated with stop signal overruns. The proposed directive follows FTA's review and analysis of data and information submitted in response to the agency's Safety Advisory 16-1: Stop Signal Overruns, for Rail Fixed Guideway Public Transportation System operations during calendar year 2015.

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 Champaign Transit System intends to transfer a 14, 850 square foot, one-story concrete block transit garage building to the Champaign County Sherriff's Department to store the sheriff's department vehicles and equipment. Champaign County currently owns the building.

This notice announces final environmental actions taken by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for a project in Chapel Hill and Durham, NC. The purpose of this notice is to announce publicly the environmental decisions by FTA on the subject project and to activate the limitation on any claims that may challenge these final environmental actions.

This final rule revises the transportation planning regulations to promote more effective regional planning by States and metropolitan planning organizations (MPO). The goal of the revisions is to better align the planning regulations with statutory provisions concerning the establishment of metropolitan planning area (MPA) boundaries and the designation of MPOs.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) received a request from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) for a Buy America public interest waiver for the procurement of equipment to replace what was damaged at the World Trade Center Transportation Hub (WTC Hub) project during Hurricane Sandy. A public interest waiver is needed because Hurricane Sandy damaged an existing construction site that receives federal funds but is not subject to FTA's Buy America requirements and the only option PANYNJ had to implement Sandy recovery work was to replace the damaged equipment with the same equipment. 49 U.S.C. 5323(j)(2)(A) and 49 CFR 661.7(b). In accordance with 49 U.S.C. 5323(j)(3)(A), FTA provided notice of the public interest waiver request and sought comment on whether to grant the request. FTA received one comment in support of the waiver, and no comments objecting to the waiver. Therefore, FTA is issuing a general public interest waiver for two PANYNJ Hurricane Sandy grants, NY-44-X005 and NY-44-X014. This public interest waiver is limited to the Hurricane Sandy recovery projects at the WTC Hub only and does not apply to separately funded resiliency projects.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) received a request from the Central Puget Sound Transit Authority (Sound Transit) for a Buy America non-availability waiver for the procurement of ultrastraight rail. Sound Transit seeks to procure approximately 15,100 feet ultrastraight rail for a portion of its Northgate Link light rail extension to avoid exceedance of contractually-mandated vibration thresholds. The FTA hereby waives its Buy America requirements, finding that the materials for which the waiver is requested are not produced in the United States in sufficient and reasonably available quantities and of satisfactory quality. This waiver is limited to a single procurement by Sound Transit.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the selection of 35 projects for funding with Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 appropriations for the Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program Tribal Transit Program (TTP), as authorized by (49 U.S.C. 5311(c)(1)(a)(j)), as amended by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, Public Law 114-94 (December 4, 2015). A total of $5 million is available under this program.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the availability of a draft Programmatic Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Transit Projects (Programmatic Assessment) and an accompanying Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) Estimator Tool (Estimator Tool). The purpose of the draft Programmatic Assessment is to: (1) Report on whether certain types of proposed transit projects merit detailed analysis of their GHG emissions at the project-level; and (2) provide a source of data and analysis for FTA and its grantees to reference in future environmental documents for projects where detailed, project-level GHG analysis would provide limited information beyond what is collected and considered in the assessment. The draft Programmatic Assessment presents estimates of GHG emissions generated from the construction, operations, and maintenance phases of projects across select transit modes, as well as an estimate of personal vehicle emissions displaced due to transit's ``ridership effect.'' The associated Estimator Tool is a spreadsheet tool that allows users to calculate partial lifecycle GHG emissions estimates by transit mode based on limited data inputs. FTA's draft Programmatic Assessment or Estimator Tool is not a requirement; agencies and states may use other methods for reporting GHG emissions related to state GHG reporting regulations, as needed and as appropriate. Use of FTA's draft Programmatic Assessment or Estimator Tool is not a requirement, if agencies and states are utilizing other methods for reporting GHG emissions related to state GHG reporting regulations. The FTA requests public comments on the Programmatic Assessment and the Estimator Tool.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information Collection Requirements (ICRs) abstracted below have been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICR describe the nature of the information collection and their expected burdens. The Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following collections of information was published on August 16, 2016 (81 FR 54660).

This notice announces final environmental actions taken by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for projects in the City of Alexandria, VA and the City of Jersey City, NJ. 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) received a request from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) for a Buy America public interest waiver for the procurement of equipment to replace what was damaged at the World Trade Center Transportation Hub (WTC Hub) project during Hurricane Sandy. PANYNJ seeks a public interest Buy America waiver for the replacement of equipment previously purchased for the WTC Hub. Hurricane Sandy damaged an existing construction site that receives federal funds but is not subject to FTA's Buy America requirements and the only option PANYNJ had to implement Sandy recovery work was to replace the damaged equipment with the same equipment previously acquired for the project. 49 U.S.C. 5323(j)(2)(A) and 49 CFR 661.7(b). In accordance with 49 U.S.C. 5323(j)(3)(A), FTA is providing notice of the public interest waiver request and seeks public comment before deciding whether to grant the request. If granted, the waiver would only apply to replacement of equipment damaged by Hurricane Sandy at the WTC Hub project and would not apply to any other PANYNJ resiliency projects for which FTA has provided funding.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) received a request from the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority (GDRTA) for a Buy America non-availability waiver for the procurement of radio consoles, which are a part of a voice and cellular data communications system (the ``radio consoles''). GDRTA's current voice and data communications equipment is obsolete and malfunctioning. The new communication system will result in improved operational efficiency. GDRTA seeks a waiver for the procurement of radio consoles because there are no manufacturers that produce radio consoles that are compatible with GDRTA's communications system and comply with the Buy America requirements. 49 U.S.C. 5323(j)(2)(B) and 49 CFR 661.7(c). GDRTA is joining Montgomery County's radio system, and the radio consoles compatible with the new system must be original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Motorola devices. Motorola cannot provide Buy America-compliant radio consoles. In accordance with 49 U.S.C. 5323(j)(3)(A), FTA is providing notice of the non-availability waiver request and seeks public comment before deciding whether to grant the request. If granted, the waiver would apply to the radio consoles identified in the waiver request.

This notice announces a public meeting of the Transit Advisory Committee for Safety (TRACS). TRACS is a Federal Advisory Committee established to provide information, advice, and recommendations to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Administrator on matters relating to the safety of public transportation systems.