[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 56 (Friday, March 23, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13980-13981]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-4830]



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Part V





Department of Transportation





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Federal Transit Administration



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Alternatives Analysis Discretionary Program; Notice

  Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 56 / Friday, March 23, 2007 / 
Notices  

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration


Alternatives Analysis Discretionary Program

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of Funding Availability; Alternatives Analysis 
Discretionary Program.

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SUMMARY: This notice solicits proposals to compete for $12 million in 
Section 5339 funds to support technical work conducted within an 
alternatives analysis, in which one of the alternatives is a major 
transit capital investment. Under this authority, FTA will allocate the 
available discretionary funding for alternatives analysis. This 
analysis will support technical work that will improve and expand the 
information available to decision-makers considering potential New 
Starts and Small Starts funding. FTA will give priority to alternatives 
analyses that would add tasks to collect and analyze data on transit 
ridership patterns, the travel times of buses operating in mixed 
traffic, and/or other information on the current performance of the 
transit system. FTA will also give priority to proposals to develop and 
apply methods to estimate the time savings experienced by highway users 
that result from transit investments as well as proposals to develop 
and apply simplified travel forecasting approaches for Small Starts 
alternatives that cannot be addressed easily by the existing regional 
travel forecasting procedures. FTA encourages potential study sponsors 
to contact FTA to discuss the development of proposals under this 
section.

DATES: Complete proposals must be received by the designated Federal 
Transit Administration contact listed in this notice by the close of 
business May 22, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Proposals may be submitted electronically through the 
Grants.Gov Web site or via e-mail to [email protected] with 
the State and grantee name in the subject line. Applicants applying to 
Grants.Gov may also send an e-mail to [email protected] to 
receive confirmation that FTA retrieved the application. FTA will reply 
via e-mail within 3 business days to all e-mails received through 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steve Lewis-Workman at the Federal 
Transit Administration, Office of Planning and Environment, by phone at 
202-366-1868 or by e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. General Program Information
II. Proposal Review, Selection, and Notification
III. Additional Program Information

I. General Program Information

A. Authority

    FTA has the authority to implement this program under the Safe, 
Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act--A Legacy 
for Users (SAFETEA-LU) amendments to Section 5339. FTA may allocate $6 
million from FY2006 and $6 million from FY2007.

B. Background

    The ``Revised Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2007'' (Pub. L. 
110-05) enacted, February 15, 2007, made available $6 million in FY 
2007 funds to FTA for discretionary allocation. In addition, a balance 
of $6 million of FY 2006 funding that was not allocated to specific 
projects in the FY 2006 appropriations legislation is also available 
for discretionary award in FY 2007, for a total of $12 million.
    The authorizing legislation allows for the Secretary of 
Transportation to make awards under this program at her discretion. 
These funds will be allocated for alternatives analysis activities 
selected from applications submitted in response to this notice.

C. Eligible Applicants

    Section 5339 allows FTA to make grants and agreements, under 
criteria established by the Secretary, to States, authorities of the 
States, metropolitan planning organizations, and local governmental 
authorities to develop alternatives analyses as defined by section 
5309(a)(1). Eligible study sponsors must be able to incorporate the 
results of this work into an ongoing alternatives analysis study or 
must commit to initiate an alternatives analysis study within 12 months 
of the grant approval.

D. Eligible Expenses

    FTA will allocate available discretionary funding for alternatives 
analysis to support technical work that will improve and expand the 
information available to decision-makers considering funding for 
potential New Starts and Small Starts projects. FTA will give priority 
to alternatives analyses that would add one or more of the following 
tasks to:
    (1) Collect and analyze data on transit ridership patterns and use 
the results to validate travel forecasting models.
    (2) Collect and analyze the travel times of buses operating in 
mixed traffic, and other information on the current performance of the 
transit system, and use the results to determine the user benefits 
attributable to better reliability of fixed guideway projects.
    (3) Develop and apply simplified travel forecasting approaches for 
Small Starts alternatives.
    (4) Develop improved methods for estimating the highway system user 
travel time savings associated with public transit alternatives.
    FTA will consider proposals for other areas of technical work that 
can better develop information about the costs and benefits of projects 
seeking New or Small Starts funding.

E. Proposal Evaluation Criteria and Other Considerations

    FTA's intent in allocating funding for alternatives analysis is to 
support tasks that will improve and expand the information available to 
decision-makers considering funding for proposed New Starts and Small 
Starts projects. Alternatives analyses must be documented in the 
Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) of the metropolitan planning 
organization (MPO) for the area, with a commitment to begin the 
alternatives analysis study within 12 months of grant approval, or 
already underway. Proposals will be evaluated and awarded points as 
follows:
(1) Demonstrated Need: (30 Points)
    Study sponsors may demonstrate need for these funds by 
demonstrating a substantial transportation problem in the study 
corridor and the presence of one or more of the following conditions:
    (a) The lack a recent survey of transit riders;
    (b) The lack of useful information on bus travel times and schedule 
reliability in the presence of substantial traffic congestion that 
affects the travel speeds and schedule reliability of buses operating 
in mixed traffic;
    (c) A study that contains Small Starts alternatives for which the 
existing regional travel forecasting models are deemed inappropriate;
    (d) The degree to which technical work will develop information on 
the full range of costs and benefits of projects seeking New or Small 
starts funding.
    In addition, FTA will give additional consideration to studies in 
metropolitan areas that are part of the Department's Congestion 
Initiative.

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(2) Potential Impact on Decision-Making (40 Points)
    Study sponsors must demonstrate the potential impact of the 
proposed tasks on decision-making. For example, for a task to collect 
and analyze bus travel times, this could be accomplished by considering 
alternatives that would improve transit speeds and schedule 
reliability, having access to electronically archived data from an 
Automated Vehicle Locator system, and anticipating the analysis of 
information on a variety of transit operating regimes. The operating 
regimes include local buses, limited-stop buses, bus rapid transit, and 
other services.
(3) Capacity of the Applicant To Carry Out the Proposed Work 
Successfully (30 Points)
    Study sponsors will demonstrate capacity to successfully undertake 
the proposed tasks by the quality of the local procedures for 
predicting the system performance, multimodal impacts, and ridership 
response of new transit investments, and the track record, if any, of 
the applicant in the prediction of ridership for previous New Starts 
projects.
    Outstanding proposals in study areas with substantial 
transportation problems could receive up to $2 million in 5339 funding.

II. Proposal Development, Review, Selection and Notification

    FTA staff is available to discuss and clarify our expectations 
regarding these efforts before study sponsors submit applications. 
After receiving funding proposals, FTA regional offices will conduct an 
eligibility review with headquarters performing evaluations of the 
surviving proposals. FTA will announce successful applicants/projects 
in a subsequent Federal Register notice. The criteria and application 
procedures may be reassessed for subsequent years.

III. Additional Program Information

A. Funds Administration

    Once FTA has reviewed the proposals and selected the winners, FTA 
will award funds to the project sponsor to support the agreed upon 
tasks. These funds will be administered according to federal 
requirements as well as the appropriate policies, guidelines and rules 
of the pertinent agencies.
    The Government's share of the cost of an activity funded using 
amounts made available under this section may not exceed 80 percent of 
the cost of the activity.
    An amount made available or appropriated for this section remains 
available for 3 fiscal years, including the fiscal year in which the 
amount is made available or appropriated. The Secretary may use any 
amount that is unobligated at the end of the 3-fiscal-year period for 
any purpose under Section 5339. FTA will not approve deferred local 
share.

B. Application Methods

    (1) State and local agencies may apply by e-mail to 
[email protected], or
    (2) Apply electronically through the Grants.Gov portal, or
    (3) Agencies may apply via paper application to Steve Lewis-
Workman, Federal Transit Administration, TPE-21, 400 Seventh Street, 
SW., Washington, DC 20590.

C. Performance Measures

    Participants may be asked to compile data for use in measuring 
program performance.

    Issued in Washington, DC, this 12th day of March 2007.
James S. Simpson,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. E7-4830 Filed 3-22-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-57-P