[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 197 (Wednesday, October 13, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62917-62918]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-25653]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration

[FTA Docket No. FTA-2010-37]


Notice of Request for the Approval of Information Collection

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), 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 approve 
the following information collection: 49 U.S.C. Part 611--Major Capital 
Investment Projects.

DATES: Comments must be submitted before December 13, 2010.

ADDRESSES: To ensure that your comments are not entered more than once 
into the docket, submit comments identified by the docket number by 
only one of the following methods:
    1. Web site: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions 
for submitting comments on the U.S. Government electronic docket site. 
(Note: The U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT's) electronic 
docket is no longer accepting electronic comments.) All electronic 
submissions must be made to the U.S. Government electronic docket site 
at http://www.regulations.gov. Commenters should follow the directions 
below for mailed and hand-delivered comments.
    2. Fax: 202-366-7951.
    3. Mail: U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, 
SE., Docket Operations, M-30, West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-
140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    4. Hand Delivery: U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue, SE., Docket Operations, M-30, West Building, Ground 
Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001 between 9 a.m. and 5 
p.m., Monday through Friday, except federal holidays.
    Instructions: You must include the agency name and docket number 
for this notice at the beginning of your comments. Submit two copies of 
your comments if you submit them by mail. For confirmation that FTA has 
received your comments, include a self-addressed stamped postcard. Note 
that all comments received, including any personal information, will be 
posted and will be available to Internet users, without change, to 
http://www.regulations.gov. You may review DOT's complete Privacy Act 
Statement in the Federal Register published April 11, 2000, (65 FR 
19477), or you may visit http://www.regulations.gov.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents and 
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov at any time. 
Background documents and comments received may also be viewed at the 
U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Docket 
Operations, M-30, West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 
Washington, DC 20590-0001 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, except federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Day, Office of Planning and 
Environment, (202) 366-5159, or e-mail: [email protected].

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 U.S.C. Part 611--49 CFR Major Capital Investment 
Projects.
    OMB Number: 2132-0561.
    Background: On August 10, 2005, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, 
Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) 
was enacted. Sections 3011(d)(5) and 3011(e)(6) of SAFETEA-LU require 
FTA to issue regulations on the manner in which candidate projects for 
major capital investment grants for new fixed guideway systems, 
extensions to existing fixed guideway systems, or significant corridor 
based bus investments (``New Starts'' and ``Small Starts'') will be 
evaluated and rated for purposes of the FTA Capital Investment Grant 
program under 49 U.S.C. Section 5309. An Advanced Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking (ANPRM) for this regulation was issued on January 30, 2006, 
(71 FR 22841). A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) was issued on 
August 3, 2007, (72 FR 43328). The NPRM was withdrawn on February 17, 
2009, due to an intervening statutory change resulting from the passage 
of the SAFETEA-LU Technical Corrections Act in June 2008. Another ANPRM 
for the regulation was issued on June 2, 2010 (75 FR 31383). FTA is 
reviewing the comments received on the ANPRM, and at this time a date 
for publication of the NPRM is not known.
    FTA has a longstanding requirement to evaluate proposed projects 
against a prescribed set of statutory criteria at specific points 
during the projects' development including when they seek to enter 
preliminary engineering, final design, and a Full Funding Grant 
Agreement. In addition, FTA must report on its evaluations and ratings 
annually to Congress. 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. Thus, the requirements for project evaluation and data 
collection for New Starts projects are not new. One addition included 
in SAFETEA-LU is the Small Starts program. The Small Starts program 
enables smaller cost projects with a smaller requested share of Section 
5309 major capital investment funds to progress through a simplified 
and streamlined project evaluation and data collection process. In 
general, the information used by FTA for New and Small Starts project 
evaluation and

[[Page 62918]]

rating should arise as a part of the normal planning process.
    FTA has been collecting project evaluation information from project 
sponsors under the existing OMB approval for this program (OMB No. 
2132-0561). However, due to modifications in the project evaluation 
criteria and FTA evaluation and rating procedures for the New Starts 
program and the addition of the Small Starts program, it became 
apparent that some information now required might be beyond the scope 
of ordinary planning activities. In particular, SAFETEA-LU creates 
additional requirements for before-and-after data collection as a 
condition of obtaining a Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) or a 
Project Construction Grant Agreement (PCGA).
    Respondents: State and local government.
    Estimated Annual Burden on Respondents: Approximately 275 hours for 
each of the 135 respondents.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 37,070 hours.
    Frequency: Annual.

    Issued: October 6, 2010.
Ann M. Linnertz,
Associate Administrator for Administration.
[FR Doc. 2010-25653 Filed 10-12-10; 8:45 am]
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