[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 176 (Tuesday, September 12, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53739-53740]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-15093]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration


Environmental Impact Statement for the North Metro Corridor

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), U.S. Department of 
Transportation.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement 
(EIS).

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SUMMARY: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Denver 
Regional Transportation District (RTD), in cooperation with the U.S. 
Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Colorado Department of 
Transportation (CDOT), will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS) to evaluate the impacts of transit improvements, including a 
potential commuter rail line or a light rail line, in the North Metro 
Corridor between Downtown Denver and the City of Thornton in Adams 
County, Colorado. The EIS will be prepared in accordance with FTA/FHWA 
regulations (23 CFR 771 et seq.) implementing the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), as well as provisions of the recently 
enacted Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity 
Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). The purpose of this Notice of 
Intent is to alert interested parties regarding the plan to prepare the 
EIS, to provide information on the nature of the proposed transit 
project, to invite participation in the NEPA process, including 
comments on the scope of the EIS proposed in this notice, and to 
announce that public scoping meetings will be conducted.

DATES: Written comments on the scope of the EIS should be sent to Dave 
Shelley, RTD Project Manager, by October 31, 2006. Public scoping 
meetings will be held on September 27 and 28, 2006 from 5:30 p.m. to 
8:15 p.m. at the locations indicated below.
    An interagency scoping meeting will be scheduled after agencies 
with an interest in the proposed project have been identified.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on the scope of the EIS should be sent to 
Dave Shelley, RTD Project Manager, North Metro Corridor, Regional 
Transportation District (RTD), 1560 Broadway, Suite 700, Denver, CO 
80202. Comments may also be offered at the public scoping meetings. The 
addresses for the public scoping meetings are as follows:

Wednesday, September 27, 2006, City of Thornton Civic Center Complex, 
9500 Civic Center Drive, Thornton, CO 80229.
Thursday, September 28, 2006, Bruce Randolph Middle School, 3955 Steele 
Street, Denver, CO 80205.

    For more information for assistance needs for the scoping meetings, 
please contact Dave Shelley at (303) 299-2408 at least 48 hours before 
the meeting. All meetings will be conducted in wheelchair accessible 
locations.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. David Beckhouse, Community 
Planner, Federal Transit Administration, Region VIII, 12300 West Dakota 
Ave., Suite 310, Lakewood, CO 80228-2583, (720) 963-3306.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    The Proposed Project: The project extends 18 miles between Denver 
Union Station (DUS) and 162nd Avenue (SH7) north of Thornton. The 
project proposes stations at Globeville/Swansea, Commerce City, 88th 
Avenue, 100th Avenue, 112th Avenue, 124th Avenue, 144th Avenue, and 
162nd Avenue.
    Purposes of and Need for the Proposed Project: The North Metro area 
is forecast to be one of the fastest growing areas of the region and 
the country over the next 20 years. Growth rates for both population 
and employment are forecast to be double the regional average. The I-25 
and I-76 corridors are forecast to intensify as employment corridors, 
with the areas between the two facilities filling in with residential 
development. Congestion along north I-25 is already severe, with 
forecasts indicating increasing severity and duration of congestion. In 
addition to increasing congestion, access through and from the area to 
other areas in the metro region is difficult. Many roadways are not 
continuous, requiring circuitous travel. Existing transit service in 
the area is minimal and utilizes the congested roadway network. The 
project will provide a new fixed-guideway, high-capacity transportation 
facility to improve local and regional mobility and accessibility for 
the North Metro area.
    This transit project is included as part of RTD's FasTracks 
Program, a 12-year comprehensive plan for transit service and 
facilities in the Denver region. The FasTracks Plan is a $4.7 billion 
program that was endorsed by the voters of the Denver metropolitan area 
in 2004. The voters of the region approved an increase in the regional 
sales and use tax from 0.6% to 1.0% in order to provide for the 
expedited build out of the transit system. FasTracks includes a funding 
plan for 119 new miles of rail transit, 18 miles of bus rapid transit, 
21,000 new spaces in park n Rides and significant improvements to the 
bus system. The FasTracks projects have been adopted in the current 
Denver area Regional Transportation Plan (RTP).
    Alternatives: The EIS scoping process will include an evaluation of 
the results of the MIS conducted by RTD between 1998 and 2001 as well 
as the Three Corridors Scoping Study that was completed in October 
2005. The Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) of the MIS was either 
Light Rail Transit (LRT) or Diesel Multiple Units (DMU) between DUS and 
124th Avenue along the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) Boulder Branch. 
This recommendation was approved by the Denver Regional Council of 
Governments and included in the fiscally constrained RTP and the 
MetroVision 2030 Master Plan.
    FTA and RTD propose that the EIS evaluate the following three 
alternatives: 1. The no-action alternative is the option of 
implementing nothing more that the existing and committed road and 
transit improvements; 2. The TSM alternative includes various 
transportation improvements beyond the existing and committed projects 
plus enhanced bus transit service in the North Metro Corridor; 3. The 
MIS LPA will be evaluated as the proposed project as a commuter rail 
line between DUS and 162nd Avenue (SH 7) along the existing UPRR 
Boulder Branch line. The EIS will also consider any additional 
reasonable fixed-guideway, high capacity transit alternatives 
identified during scoping that provide similar transportation benefits 
while reducing or avoiding adverse impacts.
    The NEPA Process and the Role of Participating Agencies and the 
Public: The purpose of the NEPA process is to explore, in a public 
setting, potentially significant effects of implementing the proposed 
action and alternatives on the physical, human, and natural 
environment. Areas of investigation include, but are not limited to, 
land use, development potential, land acquisition and displacements, 
historic resources,

[[Page 53740]]

visual and aesthetic qualities, air quality, noise and vibration, 
energy use, safety and security, and ecosystems, including threatened 
and endangered species. Measures to avoid, minimize, or mitigate any 
significant adverse impacts will be identified. Regulations 
implementing NEPA, as well as provisions of the recently enacted Safe, 
Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy 
for Users (SAFETEA-LU), call for public involvement in the EIS process. 
Section 6002 of SAFETEA-LU requires that FTA and RTD do the following: 
(1) Extend an invitation to other Federal and non-Federal agencies and 
Indian tribes that may have an interest in the proposed project to 
become ``participating agencies,'' (2) provide an opportunity for 
involvement by participating agencies and the public in helping to 
define the purpose and need for a proposed project, as well as the 
range of alternatives for consideration in the EIS; and (3) establish a 
plan for coordinating public and agency participation in and comment on 
the environmental review process. An invitation to become a 
participating agency, with the scoping information packet appended, 
will be extended to other Federal and non-Federal agencies and Indian 
tribes that may have an interest in the proposed project. It is 
possible that we may not be able to identify all Federal and non-
Federal agencies and Indian tribes that may have such an interest. Any 
Federal or non-Federal agency or Indian tribe interested in the 
proposed project that does not receive an invitation to become a 
participating agency should notify at the earliest opportunity the 
Project Manager identified above under ADDRESSES.
    A comprehensive public involvement program will be developed and a 
public and agency involvement Coordination Plan will be created. The 
program will include outreach to local and county officials and 
community and civic groups; a public scoping process to define the 
issues of concern among all parties interested in the project; 
organizing periodic meetings with various local agencies, organizations 
and committees; a public hearing on release of the Draft Environmental 
Impact Statement (DEIS); and development and distribution of project 
newsletters.
    The purposes of and need for the proposed project have been 
preliminarily identified in this notice. We invite the public and 
participating agencies to consider the preliminary statement of 
purposes of and need for the proposed project, as well as the 
alternatives proposed for consideration. Suggestions for modifications 
to the statement of purposes of and need for the proposed project and 
any other alternatives that meet the purposes of and need for the 
proposed project are welcomed and will be given serious consideration. 
Comments on potentially significant environmental impacts that may be 
associated with the proposed project and alternatives are also 
welcomed. There will be additional opportunities to participate in the 
scoping process in addition to the public meetings announced in this 
notice.
    In accordance with 23 CFR 771.105(a) and 771.133, FTA will comply 
with all Federal environmental laws, regulations, and executive orders 
applicable to the proposed project during the environmental review 
process. These requirements include, but are not limited to, the 
regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality and FTA 
implementing NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508, and 23 CFR part 771), the 
project-level air quality conformity regulation of the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (40 CFR part 93), the Section 
404(b)(1) guidelines of EPA (40 CFR part 230), the regulation 
implementing Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (36 
CFR part 800), the regulation implementing section 7 of the Endangered 
Species Act (50 CFR part 402), Section 4(f) regulation implementing the 
DOT Act (23 CFR 771.135), and Executive Orders 12898 on environmental 
justice, 11988 on floodplain management, and 11990 on wetlands.
    In accordance with 36 CFR 800.8 FTA and RTD will coordinate 
compliance with Section 106 requirements and the requirements of the 
NEPA Process. RTD will utilize the Memorandum of Agreement between the 
FTA, Region VIII and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), dated 
January, 2006 for documentation to comply with Section 404 mandates.
    In addition, RTD may seek Section 5309 New Starts funding for the 
project. As provided in the FTA New Starts regulation (49 CFR part 
611), New Starts funding requires the submission of certain specific 
information to FTA to support a request to initiate preliminary 
engineering, which is normally done in conjunction with the NEPA 
process.

    Issued on: September 7, 2006.
Lee O. Waddleton,
Regional Administrator, Region VIII, Federal Transit Administration.
 [FR Doc. E6-15093 Filed 9-11-06; 8:45 am]
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