[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 220 (Wednesday, November 16, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-28224]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: November 16, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF STATE
[Public Notice 2114]

 

Laredo Northwest International Bridge (Bridge IV), Laredo, TX: 
Finding of No Significant Impact

AGENCY: Department of State.

ACTION: Notice of a finding of no significant impact with regard to 
issuance of a permit to build a cross-border bridge.

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SUMMARY: The Department of State is announcing a finding of no 
significant impact on the environment for the Laredo Northwest 
International Bridge (Bridge IV) project sponsored by the City of 
Laredo, Texas. An environmental assessment of the proposed Laredo 
Northwest International Bridge project was prepared by Parsons 
Brinkerhoff, Quade & Douglas, Inc. of Austin, Texas, for the sponsor, 
the City of Laredo, Texas. The draft environmental assessment was 
reviewed by over two dozen federal, state, and local agencies. After 
revisions based on comments received from interested agencies and other 
parties, the final assessment was reviewed and approved or accepted by 
the Immigration and Naturalization Service, General Services 
Administration, Department of Interior, Department of Agriculture, 
Department of Commerce, U.S. Customs Service, U.S. Coast Guard, Federal 
Highway Administration, Food and Drug Administration, International 
Boundary and Water Commission--U.S. Section, Department of Defense, 
Department of Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the 
Department of State, and the appropriate Texas State agencies--the 
Parks and Wildlife Department, the Department of Transportation, and 
the Natural Resource Conservation Commission. Based on the 
environmental assessment, information developed during the review of 
the City's application and environmental assessment, and comments 
received, the Department has concluded that issuance of the permit will 
not have a significant effect on the quality of the human environment 
within the United States. An environmental impact statement will not be 
prepared.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the environmental assessment and the finding of no 
significant impact may be obtained from Stephen R. Gibson, Office of 
Mexican Affairs, Room 4258, Department of State, Washington, DC 20520 
(Telephone 202-647-8529).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Proposed Action

    The City of Laredo, Texas, has requested a permit to build a new 
bridge, with access road, to be constructed across the Rio Grande 
between Laredo, Texas, USA, and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The 
bridge is to be located 9.35 river miles north along the Rio Grande 
from the existing Laredo International Bridge I. Initially, it will 
carry pedestrian and freight traffic only, and is intended to relieve 
the traffic burden on existing bridges in downtown areas. As a 
condition of issuance of the Presidential Permit, the City of Laredo 
has agreed to ban all commercial traffic from the two existing bridges 
in downtown Laredo. The work will include the following items: The 
bridge structure, the U.S. Customs Border Import lot facilities, a City 
Toll Plaza and Export lot facilities, water and sewer facilities and a 
State Highway facility (Extension of FM 3464) connecting to FM 1472. 
The new bridge is needed to provide an alternate route for existing 
commercial truck traffic, which currently passes from the two downtown 
bridges through the city streets of Laredo and Nuevo Laredo. Increases 
in truck traffic at Laredo have averaged 19 percent over the past five 
years, and can reasonably be expected to continue increasing with the 
entry into force of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Factors Considered

    The Department of State (``the Department'') is charged with 
issuance of Presidential Permits for the construction of international 
bridges under the International Bridge Act of 1972, 86 Stat. 731; 33 
U.S.C. 535 et seq., and Executive Order 11423, 33 FR 11741 (1968), as 
amended by Executive Order 12847 of May 17, 1993, 33 FR 96 (1993). The 
Department considered four alternative actions in this case: (1) Denial 
of a Presidential Permit (the ``no action;'' alternative), (2) the City 
providing public transportation services between Laredo and Nuevo 
Laredo, (3) issuance of a Presidential Permit with a condition 
requiring diversion of all commercial traffic from the two existing 
downtown bridges in Laredo and (4) issuance of a Presidential Permit 
without a condition requiring the diversion of all commercial traffic 
from the two existing downtown bridges.
    In considering the ``no action'' alternative, and the alternative 
of the City providing public transportation services between Laredo and 
Nuevo Laredo, the Department noted the continuing increases in 
commercial truck traffic on the existing Laredo bridges. Truck traffic 
(southbound only) increased from 274,743 trucks in 1987 to 781,332 in 
1993. It also noted the implementation of NAFTA beginning January 1, 
1994, which it believes will further stimulate the growth of truck 
traffic through Laredo. Approximately 60 percent of the commercial 
truck traffic between the United States and Mexico already passes 
through Laredo and Nuevo Laredo. The population of the Laredo 
Metropolitan Statistical Area increased from 99,258 in 1980 to 133,239 
in 1990 and is expected to increase to 259,000 by the year 2010. The 
City of Nuevo Laredo in Mexico has also seen considerable growth in the 
last ten years; its population is expected to increase to as much as 
350,000 by 2010. The increasing population, urbanization and commerce 
in the Laredo area mean that existing problems of air pollution, 
traffic congestion, and danger from hazardous waste caused by heavy 
truck traffic will continue to cause the quality of the environment of 
the Laredo/Nuevo Laredo downtown areas to deteriorate if no acceptable 
alternative route for such traffic is provided.
    The third alternative considered and the alternative chosen was to 
issue a Presidential Permit for construction of a bridge with a 
condition requiring diversion of all commercial traffic from the two 
existing downtown bridges in Laredo. The advantage of issuing a permit 
with such a condition is that it virtually eliminates the above-
mentioned problems of air pollution, traffic congestion and danger from 
hazardous waste from the Laredo downtown area, insofar as these 
problems are caused by commercial truck traffic. The City has agreed to 
designate the new facility as a commercial crossing only and to route 
all commercial traffic from the two existing downtown bridges.
    The fourth alternative considered was the issuance of a 
Presidential Permit without a condition requiring the diversion of all 
commercial traffic from the two existing downtown bridges. Under this 
alternative, the environmental effects would be essentially the same as 
described below, except that benefits to the environment of downtown 
Laredo would not be as great as in the third alternative, as there is 
no assurance that commercial trucks would leave the downtown area and 
use the new bridge. Except as a condition of issuance of a Presidential 
Permit, the Department of State has no authority to require the City of 
Laredo to reroute traffic from the downtown bridges. If the new bridge 
is not constructed, the City of Laredo is under no obligation to ban 
commercial truck traffic from the downtown bridges at all, and such 
traffic would not be diverted to other bridges in the area, such as the 
Colombia/Solidarity bridge.
    The Environmental Assessment submitted by the City provides 
information on the environmental effects of the construction of a new 
bridge. On the basis of the Environmental Assessment, and information 
developed by the Department and the other federal and state agencies in 
the process of reviewing the Environmental Assessment, the Department 
makes the following conclusions regarding the impact of construction of 
a new international bridge at the proposed location.

Air Quality

    Webb County, Texas, within which the proposed bridge is located, is 
designated as an attainment area for National Ambient Air Quality 
Standards (NAAQS). Since Webb County is in attainment, meeting the 
currently established National Ambient Air Quality Standards, the U.S. 
Clean Air Act does not mandate that the State Implementation Plan (SIP) 
address non-attainment requirements. Virtually all the air pollution 
caused by the City's proposal would be vehicle emissions. As noted 
above, rerouting commercial truck traffic from downtown Laredo bridges 
to this bridge and the Colombia/Solidarity bridge will have a positive 
impact on air quality in downtown Laredo. Overall emissions in Laredo 
would be reduced because of reductions in idling time, startups and 
stops associated with long waits for inspection at the existing 
bridges. Construction of the bridge and related infrastructure will 
have some transient impacts on air quality but it is not expected that 
the ambient pollutants will cause violations of the National Ambient 
Air Quality Standards. Based on the project descriptions provided, the 
Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission does not expect that air 
emissions associated with the project will substantially impact ambient 
air quality.

River Channel and Floodplains

    Construction of the bridge involves placing of concrete piers and 
may have some minor short-term effects on the Rio Grande channel. 
However, the City states that the bridge when constructed will not 
alter the existing hydrogeological characteristics and will not 
increase backwater elevation in the Rio Grande by more than one foot. 
The bottom of the structure will be 12.13 feet above the International 
Boundary and Water Commission's required water surface elevation and 
will permit passage under the bridge of the 100-year flood of 181,000 
cubic feet per second. The proposal was reviewed by the International 
Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) and by the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency, each of which have concurred in the issuance of a 
Permit. Final design of the bridge will require the approval of the 
IBWC.

Historical and Archaeological Resources

    A programmatic agreement has been executed among the Department of 
State, the Advisory Council in Historic Preservation, the Texas State 
Historic Preservation Officer, the Texas Department of Transportation 
and the City of Laredo, addressing to the satisfaction of those 
agencies the City's obligation to avoid, minimize or mitigate the 
effects of the bridge project on known and potential historic and 
archaeological resources within the construction area. The Presidential 
Permit contains a provision that the City notify the United States 
Coast Guard if before or during construction historic or archaeological 
properties are located and, if construction has already started, cease 
construction immediately and prepare a Section 4(f) statement.

Land Use

    The bridge and border station site are in an undeveloped area 
within the city limits. The City's Future Land Use Plan shows the 
project area as open space along the Rio Grande floodplain, retail/
office and warehouse/light industrial. The site is predominantly native 
range and brush land. The general trend of growth of the City of Laredo 
indicates that the area between the Mines Road and the Rio Grande is 
likely to be developed for warehouse, industrial and commercial uses 
even in the absence of a border crossing. The opening of a border 
crossing will probably accelerate that development. The project will 
not alter any park or recreational lands or significantly reduce any 
land suitable for agricultural crops.

Threatened and Endangered Species

    Construction of the project and subsequent development will not 
result in a significant reduction in range and brush land available for 
habitat. As noted above, given the trends in growth of the City of 
Laredo, such habitat loss as may occur is likely to occur even without 
construction of the bridge. Short-term disruption of narrow bands of 
vegetation and thickets along the Rio Grande may occur in the course of 
construction of the bridge and supporting piers. However, no permanent 
structures, other than bridge piers will be placed in this area, and 
after construction of the bridge, the area is expected to revegetate. 
The City has committed to maintaining the Rio Grande as a corridor for 
wildlife. In a seven point mitigation plan accepted by the U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service on August 24, 1994, the City agreed, among other 
measures, to amend its Land Use Plan, designating the floodplains areas 
along the Rio Grande and the arroyos located in the vicinity of the 
proposed project as open space. This was accomplished by City Council 
resolution of June 27, 1994. The mitigation plan is part of the City's 
bridge permit application.

Noise

    Modeling of the expected traffic noise levels in the years 2000 and 
2010 respectively predicts an hourly A-weighted sound level of 71 to 72 
dBA, respectively. These levels do not exceed noise abatement criteria 
established by the FHWA. The closest residential area receptor to the 
proposed project is a residential unit located approximately 2,050 feet 
north of the proposed project site. There is a three decibel reduction 
in noise every time the distance between the noise source and the 
receptor is doubled. Assuming the noise analysis was conducted on the 
centerline of a 300 feet wide right-of-way, the predicated 71 dBA would 
be reduced to approximately 30 dBA at the residential unit. Given 
reference noise levels of 80 dBA, 77.5 dBA or 75 dBA at 50 feet from 
trucks accelerating or decelerating, the noise levels anticipated at 
the residential unit would be 64, 61 and 59 dBA respectively, noise 
levels that are acceptable for picnic areas, recreation areas, 
playgrounds, active sports areas and parks.

Water Quality/Public Water Supply

    The area of the bridge and associated development will be served by 
the sewage system of the City of Laredo. Existing water treatment 
facilities are adequate to handle the increased waste loads anticipated 
to be produced as a result of the project. Construction activities may 
result in transient impacts on water quality. The Texas Natural 
Resource Conservation Commission has stated that its concerns regarding 
water quality, including any discharges which may originate from the 
project, have been met.

Wetlands

    Some minor wetlands are located along the banks of the Rio Grande. 
As noted above, construction may have some transient effects on these 
areas, but no permanent construction other than bridge piers will occur 
in this area which might reduce or otherwise affect the wetlands.

Finding of the Environmental Assessment

    On the basis of the Environmental Assessment, information developed 
during the review of the City's application and environmental 
assessment, and comments received, a finding of no significant impact 
(``FONSI'') is adopted and an environmental impact statement will not 
be prepared.

    Dated: October 3, 1994.
Stephen R. Gibson,
Coordinator, U.S.-Mexico Border Affairs, Office of Mexican Affairs.
[FR Doc. 94-28224 Filed 11-15-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4710-29-M