[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 77 (Friday, April 20, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20348-20349]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-9743]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration

[FTA Docket No. FTA-2001-9446]


Notice of Request for Approval of a New Collection

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of request for comments.

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SUMMARY: 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 new information collection: 49 CFR Part 611 Major Capital 
Investment Projects.

DATES: Comments must be submitted before June 19, 2001.

ADDRESSES: All written comments must refer to the docket number that 
appears at the top of this document and be submitted to the United 
States Department of Transportation, Central Dockets Office, PL-401, 
400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590. All comments received 
will be available for examination at the above address from 10 a.m. to 
5 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, except federal holidays. Those 
desiring notification of receipt of comments must include a self-
addressed, stamped postcard/envelope.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. John Day, Office of Budget and 
Policy, (202) 366-1671.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Interested parties are invited to send 
comments regarding any aspect of this information collection, 
including: (1) The necessity and utility of the information collection 
for the proper performance of the functions of the FTA; (2) the 
accuracy of the estimated burden; (3) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the collected information; and (4) ways to 
minimize the collection burden without reducing the quality of the 
collected information. Comments submitted in response to this notice 
will be summarized and/or included in the request for OMB approval of 
this information collection.
    Title: 49 CFR Part 611 Major Capital Investment Projects.
    Background: On June 9, 1998, the Transportation Equity Act for the 
21st Century (TEA-21) (Pub. L. 105-178) was enacted. Section 3009(e)(5) 
of TEA-21 requires FTA to issue regulations on the manner in which 
candidate projects for capital investment grants and loans for new 
fixed guideway systems and extensions to existing systems (``new 
starts'') will be evaluated and rated for purposes of the FTA Capital 
Investment Grants and Loans program for new starts under 49 USC Section 
5309.
    The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for this regulation was 
issued on April 7, 1999, (64 FR 17062). The docket was open for public 
comment through July 6, 1999, though late-filed comments were accepted 
through July 19, 1999. Comments were received from a total of 41 
individuals and organizations. During the comment period, FTA held 
three additional public outreach workshops to solicit comments on the 
proposed rule: one in Toronto, Ontario, on May 24, 1999, in conjunction 
with the 1999 American Public Transit Association's Commuter Rail/Rapid 
Transit Conference; one in Oakland, California, on June 3, 1999; and 
one in Washington, D.C., on June 8, 1999. Notes from these workshops 
have been placed in the docket for this rule (Docket No. FTA-99-5474-
48).
    The Final Rule was issued on December 7, 2000, (65 FR 76864) noting 
that a separate burden analysis would be published for public comment 
and that FTA would seek a control number from the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) authorizing FTA to collect the required information. 
This notice serves that purpose.
    It is important to note that while the new starts project 
evaluation and rating regulation is new, the requirements for project 
evaluation and data collection for the new starts program are not. 
FTA's requirement to evaluate proposed new starts against a prescribed 
set of statutory criteria is longstanding. The Surface Transportation 
and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of 1987 (STURAA) established in 
law a set of criteria that proposed projects had to meet in order to be 
eligible for federal funding. The requirement for summary project 
ratings has been in place since 1998.
    In general, the information used by FTA for new starts project 
evaluation and rating purposes should arise as a part of the normal 
planning process. Prior to this Rule, FTA collected project evaluation 
information from project sponsors under a Paperwork Reduction Act 
request (OMB No. 2132-0529) approved under the joint FTA/FHWA planning 
regulations. However, as the project evaluation criteria have expanded 
under TEA-21, it has become apparent that some information required 
under this Rule may be beyond the scope of ordinary planning 
activities. Further, while FTA has long required the reporting of 
information for project evaluations, there has never been a regulatory 
requirement until TEA-21. Finally, this Rule adds a new

[[Page 20349]]

requirement for before-and-after data collection for purposes of 
Government Performance and Results Act reporting as a condition of 
obtaining a Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA). Therefore, FTA is 
submitting a separate Paperwork Reduction Act request.
    It is also important to note that since this is a new regulatory 
requirement, the burden estimates include all data collection efforts 
required by this Rule, regardless of whether or not the same data would 
have been required under the previous, policy statement-driven process. 
Thus, the total burden estimate includes items that would have been 
required whether this regulation had been issued or not. These 
estimates were also provided in the preamble to the Final Rule dated 
December 7, 2000.
    Respondents: State and local government.
    Estimated Annual Burden on Respondents: 487 hours for each of the 
97 respondents.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 47,200 hours.
    Frequency: Annual.

    Issued: April 13, 2001.
Dorrie Y. Aldrich,
Associate Administrator for Administration.
[FR Doc. 01-9743 Filed 4-19-01; 8:45 am]
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