[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 105 (Tuesday, June 1, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Page 30988]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-12331]



[[Page 30988]]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration

[FTA Docket No. FTA-2004-17978]


Notice of Request for Extension of a Currently Approved 
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 extend 
the following currently approved information collection: 49 CFR Part 
611 Major Capital Investment Projects.

DATES: Comments must be submitted before August 2, 2004.

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. Ronald Fisher, Office of Planning 
and Environment, (202) 366-0257.

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 U.S.C. 
Section 5309.
    The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for this regulation was 
issued on April 7, 1999, (64 FR 17062). The Final Rule was issued on 
December 7, 2000 (65 FR 76864). In the Federal Register of October 30, 
2001, FTA announced OMB's approval of the collection of information for 
the Final Rule. That approval expires on August 31, 2004.
    It is important to note that while the New Starts project 
evaluation and rating regulation was new when FTA first requested 
approval for this information collection, 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 expanded under TEA-21, it became apparent that some 
information required under this Rule might 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 added a new 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). 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 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: May 26, 2004.
Ann M. Linnertz,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Administration.
[FR Doc. 04-12331 Filed 5-28-04; 8:45 am]
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