[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 54 (Friday, March 19, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13060-13061]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-5916]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

[USCG-2003-15797]


Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Lake 
Washington Ship Canal Bridge and Proposed Modification of the Duwamish 
Waterway Bridge

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard announces the availability of a Final 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Seattle Monorail Project 
``Green Line'' in Seattle, Washington. The Coast Guard and the Seattle 
Monorail Project undertook the preparation of this Final EIS to satisfy 
the requirements of both the National Environmental Policy Act and the 
Washington State Environmental Policy Act for the proposed Green Line 
monorail project.

DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management 
Facility on or before April 19, 2004.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Coast Guard docket 
number (USCG-2003-15797) to the Docket Management Facility at the U.S. 
Department of Transportation. To avoid duplication, please use only one 
of the following methods:
    (1) Web site: http://dms.dot.gov.
    (2) Mail: Docket Management Facility, (USCG-2003-15797), U.S. 
Department of Transportation, room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street, SW., 
Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    (3) Fax: 202-493-2251.
    (4) Delivery: Room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif 
Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone 
number is 202-366-9329.
    The Docket Management Facility maintains the public docket for this 
notice. Comments and material received from the public, as well as the 
Final EIS, will become part of this docket and will be available for 
inspection or copying at room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif 
Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. You may also find 
this docket, including the EIS, on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov. 
Copies of the Final EIS are also available for inspection at the 
offices of the Seattle Monorail Project, 1904 Third Avenue, Suite 105, 
Seattle, WA 98191 (telephone (206) 328-1220), and are available at the 
City of Seattle public libraries, and at the U.S. Coast Guard Bridge 
Section, Commander (oan), Thirteenth Coast Guard District, 915 Second 
Avenue, Room 3510, Seattle, WA 98174-1067.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this notice, 
the proposed project, or the associated EIS, call Mr. Austin Pratt, 
Coast Guard, telephone (206) 220-7282. You may also request information 
from Helene Kornblatt, Seattle Monorail Project, telephone (206) 587-
1743. If you have questions about viewing or submitting material to the 
docket, call Andrea M. Jenkins, Program Manager, Docket Operations, 
telephone 202-366-0271.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Request for Comments

    We welcome comments on this Final EIS. With your comment, please 
include your name and address, identify the docket number for this 
notice (USCG-2003-15797), and give the reasons for each comment. You 
may submit your comments and material by mail, hand delivery, fax, or 
electronic means to the Docket Management Facility at the address under 
ADDRESSES; but please submit your comments and material by only one 
means. If you submit them by mail or hand delivery, submit them in an 
unbound format, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, suitable for 
copying and electronic filing. If you submit them by mail and would 
like to know they reached the Facility, please enclose a stamped, self-
addressed postcard or envelope. We will consider all comments and 
material received during the comment period.

Proposed Action

    The Seattle Popular Monorail Authority (SPMA) proposes to build a 
14-mile monorail (the Green Line) in Seattle, Washington to provide 
transit service to a number of Seattle communities and destinations. 
The SPMA proposed the Green Line in accordance with the Seattle 
Citizens' Petition No. 1, which was passed by Seattle voters in 
November 2002. In Petition No. 1, voters adopted the Seattle Popular 
Monorail Plan, created the SPMA, required the SPMA to adopt and 
implement the Seattle Popular Monorail Plan, and authorized funding for 
the construction and operation of the Green Line as described in the 
Plan.
    The proposed Green Line would run from the Ballard neighborhood of 
Seattle, through the Interbay and Ballard industrial areas, through 
downtown Seattle, through the South Downtown (SODO) industrial area, 
and then to the West Seattle neighborhood. The Green Line would connect 
the urban neighborhoods in Ballard and West Seattle with the 
industrial/manufacturing areas in the Interbay and SODO areas and with 
the downtown urban core and central business district of the City of 
Seattle.
    The Green Line would use traditional monorail technology. The 
automated electric train would consist of several linked train cars 
running on rubber tires locked into an elevated guideway. The Green 
Line would include a new bridge, crossing the Lake Washington Ship 
Canal (near the existing Ballard Bridge), which would require both a 
bridge permit from the Coast Guard and an environmental review pursuant 
to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Green Line would 
also cross the Duwamish Waterway on the existing West Seattle High-Rise 
Bridge. This second crossing may also require a bridge permit from the 
Coast Guard, depending on final design drawings. In order to evaluate 
the indirect and cumulative environmental impacts of the Coast Guard's 
bridge permit actions, the Coast Guard and the SPMA included the entire 
14-mile Green Line proposal in the Final EIS.

Final Environmental Impact Statement

    The Coast Guard and the Seattle Monorail Project undertook the 
preparation of this Final EIS to satisfy the requirements of both the 
NEPA and the Washington State Environmental Policy Act for the proposed 
Green Line monorail project. The analysis for this EIS is divided into 
six geographical segments: Ballard, Interbay/Magnolia, Queen Anne/
Seattle Center/Belltown, Downtown/Pioneer Square, SODO/Chinatown 
International District/Pioneer Square, and West Seattle. Each segment 
is then divided into multiple alignments, to include a preferred 
alignment. The Final EIS examines in detail the alternative and 
preferred alignments for each segment and a no action alternative. 
Evaluation of the no action alternative, defined as the transportation 
system and environment as they would exist without the Green Line, 
provides a baseline for comparing the impacts associated with the 
proposed action.


[[Page 13061]]


    Dated: March 9, 2004.
N.E. Mpras,
Chief, Office of Bridge Administration, U.S. Coast Guard.
[FR Doc. 04-5916 Filed 3-18-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-P