[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 240 (Wednesday, December 16, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66723-66724]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-29886]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Highway Administration

[Docket No. FHWA-2009-0133]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Notice of Request for 
Extension of Currently Approved Information Collection Titled: Federal 
Lands Highway Program

AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The FHWA invites public comments about our intention to 
request the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval for 
renewal of an existing information collection that is summarized below 
under Supplementary Information. We are required to publish this notice 
in the Federal Register by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES: Please submit comments by (please insert date 60 days from 
published date).

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by DOT Docket ID Number 
FHWA-2009-0133, by any of the following methods:
    Web site: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
    Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
    Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    Hand Delivery or Courier: U.S. Department of Transportation, West 
Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 
Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gye Aung, 202-366-2167, Office of 
Federal Lands Highway, Federal Highway Administration, Department of 
Transportation, East Building, Room E61 339, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, 
SE., Washington, DC 20590. Office hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Federal Lands Highway Program.
    OMB Control #: 2125-0598.

[[Page 66724]]

    Background: Title 23 U.S.C. 204 requires the Secretary of 
Transportation and the Secretary of each appropriate Federal land 
management agency to develop, to the extent appropriate, safety, 
bridge, pavement, and congestion management systems for roads funded 
under the Federal Lands Highway Program (FLHP). A management system is 
a process for collecting, organizing, and analyzing data to provide a 
strategic approach to transportation planning, program development, and 
project selection. Its purposes are to improve transportation system 
performance and safety, and to develop alternative strategies for 
enhancing mobility of people and goods. This data collection clearance 
addresses the management systems for the National Park Service (NPS) 
and the Park Roads and Parkways (PRP) Program; Bureau of Indian Affairs 
(BIA) and the Indian Reservation Roads (IRR) Program; Fish and Wildlife 
Service (FWS) and the Refuge Roads (RR) Program; and Forest Service 
(FS) and the Forest Highway (FH) Program.
    Outputs from the management systems are important tools for the 
development of transportation plans and transportation improvement 
programs, and in making project selection decisions consistent with 23 
U.S.C. 204. Further, management system outputs also provide important 
information to the FHWA for their stewardship and oversight roles for 
the Park Roads and Parkways, Indian Reservation Roads, Refuge Roads, 
and Forest Highway Programs. The data collection required to implement 
these management systems supports the DOT Strategic Plan. The proposed 
data collection also directly supports the FHWA's Initiatives of 
Safety, Congestion Mitigation, and Environmental Stewardship and 
Streamlining that represent the three important strategic planning and 
performance goals for the agency.
    The National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Fish and 
Wildlife Service, and Forest Service are continuing to implement the 
required management systems and the associated information collections. 
Completion of this phase-in of the management systems is expected to 
occur during the time period covered by this information collection, 
and the average annual burden estimates are based on expected increases 
in the overall burden over that time period. The management systems 
vary in complexity among the four agencies and reflect differences in 
the characteristics of the transportation systems involved such as 
size, ownership, and eligibility for inclusion in the program. These 
variations result in differences among the agencies in the expected 
number of respondents to the information collection, and in the 
anticipated time necessary to respond to the information collection.
    Typical information that might be collected for the management 
systems includes:

     Traffic information including volumes, speeds, and vehicle 
classification;
     Pavement features such as number of lanes, length, width, 
surface type, functional classification, and shoulder information; and 
pavement condition information such as roughness, distress, rutting, 
and surface friction;
     Bridge features such as deck width, under/over-clearance, 
details of structural elements such as girders, joints, railings, 
bearings, abutments, and piers; and information on the condition of the 
bridge elements sufficient to describe the nature, extent, and severity 
of deterioration;
     Safety information such as crash records, crash rates, and 
an inventory of safety appurtenances such as signs and guardrails; or
     Congestion measures such as roadway level of service or 
travel delay.

    Respondents to the information collection might be collecting and 
submitting information in one or more of these categories for the 
portion of their transportation system that is covered under the FLHP. 
For example, this might include the collection and submission of these 
types of information for State or county-owned roads that are Forest 
Highways or Indian Reservation Roads owned by Indian Tribal 
Governments. Typically, the respondents would collect information each 
year on a portion of their system. Burden estimates have been developed 
using this assumption combined with an estimate of the time needed to 
collect and provide the information.
    Respondents: The estimated average annual number of respondents for 
the management systems for each of the agencies addressed by this 
information collection is:

    NPS management systems--35 States and 40 Metropolitan Planning 
Organizations (MPOs), regional transportation planning agencies, 
counties, local or tribal governments.
    BIA management systems--35 States and 50 MPOs, regional 
transportation planning agencies, counties, local or tribal 
governments.
    FWS management systems--35 States and 40 MPOs, regional 
transportation planning agencies, counties, local or tribal 
governments.
    FS management systems--35 States and 50 MPOs, regional 
transportation planning agencies, counties, local or tribal 
governments.
    Frequency: Annual.
    Estimated Average Annual Burden per Response:
    NPS management systems--Approximately 40 hours per respondent.
    BIA management systems--Approximately 60 hours per respondent.
    FWS management systems--Approximately 20 hours per respondent.
    FS management systems--Approximately 60 hours per respondent.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: Total estimated average annual 
burden is 14,700 hours.
    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of 
this information collection, including: (1) Whether the proposed 
collection is necessary for the FHWA's performance; (2) the accuracy of 
the estimated burdens; (3) ways for the FHWA to enhance the quality, 
usefulness, and clarity of the collected information; and (4) ways that 
the burden could be minimized, including the use of electronic 
technology, without reducing the quality of the collected information. 
The agency will summarize and/or include your comments in the request 
for OMB's clearance of this information collection.

    Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35, as amended; and 49 CFR 1.48.

    Issued on: December 9, 2009.
Judith Kane,
Acting Chief, Management Programs and Analysis Division.
[FR Doc. E9-29886 Filed 12-15-09; 8:45 am]
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