[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 126 (Friday, June 29, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38882-38884]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-15993]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration


Notice of Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement, 
for the Chicago, IL to St. Louis, MO High Speed Rail Corridor Program

AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) United State Department 
of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice of availability of draft environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: FRA is issuing this notice to advise the public that a Draft 
Environmental Impact Statement (Draft EIS) has been prepared for the 
Chicago, Illinois to St. Louis, Missouri High Speed Rail Corridor 
Program. The Draft EIS includes a Tier 1 corridor-level evaluation and 
a Tier 2 project-level evaluation for the Springfield Rail Improvements 
Project. FRA is the lead federal agency and the Illinois Department of 
Transportation (IDOT) is the lead state agency for the environmental 
review process.
    IDOT proposes to improve high speed passenger rail service between 
Chicago, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri, including the rail lines 
through Springfield, Illinois. The proposed including the development 
of double tracking along the existing Amtrak railroad corridor to 
improve high-speed passenger service reliability and safety, and to 
increase the number of trips between Chicago and St. Louis, as well as 
including improvements to railroad crossings, signals, and stations.
    The Draft EIS presents the Program's purpose and need, identifies 
all reasonable alternatives, describes the affected environment, 
analyzes the potential environmental impacts of all the reasonable 
alternatives and the no action alternative, and identifies appropriate 
mitigation measures to minimize the potential environmental impacts.

DATES: Written comments on the 45-day Draft EIS should be provided to 
IDOT on or before Monday, August 20th, 2012. Public hearings are 
scheduled to occur in August, 2012 in Chicago, IL, Springfield, IL, 
Alton, IL, Joliet, IL, and Bloomington, IL at times and dates to be 
announced on the High Speed Rail Program's Web site at http://www.idothsr.org/.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on the Draft EIS should be sent directly to 
Joseph Shacter, Illinois Department of Transportation, 100 West 
Randolph Street, Suite 6-600, Chicago, Illinois 60601, or submitted 
through the High Speed Rail Program's Web site at http://www.idothsr.org/, or via email with the subject line ``Draft EIS'' to 
[email protected]. Comments may also be provided orally or in 
writing at the public hearings.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Andrea E. Martin, Environmental 
Protection Specialist, Office of Railroad Policy and Development, 
Federal Railroad Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, 
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., MS-20, Washington, DC 20590; email: 
[email protected]; telephone: 202-493-6201 or Joseph Shacter, 
Illinois Department of Transportation, 100 West Randolph Street, Suite 
6-600, Chicago, Illinois 60601; email: [email protected]; 
telephone: 312-793-2116.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed High Speed Rail Program would 
include the development of double track along the existing Amtrak 
railroad corridor between Chicago, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri to 
improve high-speed passenger service reliability and safety, and to 
increase the number of trips, as well as include improvements to 
railroad crossings, signals, and stations. These proposed improvements 
are in addition to those improvements associated with the

[[Page 38883]]

January 8, 2004 Record of Decision (ROD) for the Chicago-St. Louis 
High-Speed Rail Program and the 2011 Environmental Assessment (EA)/
Finding of No Significant Impacts (FONSI) concerning improvements to 
the existing track and the construction of additional side tracks. 
Implementation of those improvements is currently underway.
    The current Chicago to St. Louis Corridor operates on a single 
track that is shared by both traditional freight and Amtrak passenger 
rail service. The EIS identifies and evaluates the environmental and 
transportation impacts associated with route alternatives and corridor-
wide capacity enhancements, including double-track.
    IDOT and FRA are using a tiered environmental process to evaluate 
the proposed Program. A tiered environmental process is a phased 
environmental review used in the development of complex projects. Under 
this process, the Draft EIS addresses broad, corridor-level issues and 
alternatives. Tier 2 environmental documents address individual 
component projects of the Selected Alternative carried forward from the 
Tier 1 environmental process. Concurrently with this Tier 1 study of 
the full Chicago to St. Louis Corridor, IDOT and FRA are conducting a 
Tier 2 analysis for the portion of the High Speed Rail corridor in 
Springfield, IL.
    The corridor alternatives retained in the Draft EIS are the result 
of a screening process that used several evaluation criteria developed 
specifically for the Program. The screening criteria determined the 
route options that should be eliminated from further consideration. The 
four alternatives and no-build retained utilize combinations of the 
existing Amtrak passenger rail routes between Chicago and Joliet, 
Illinois, the City of Springfield, Illinois, and approaching St. Louis, 
Missouri and allow for eight daily round trips at 110 miles per hour 
(mph) on two tracks.
    Other improvements identified in the Draft EIS include sidings, 
pedestrian grade separations at the stations, and grade separations 
along major roadways. After the public comment period for the Draft EIS 
and following completion of the Final EIS, individual component 
projects along the corridor would be advanced and studied in greater 
detail as Tier 2 project-level evaluations in the tiered environmental 
review process.
    A Tier 2 project-level evaluation for improvements in Springfield 
is also included within the Draft EIS. The Springfield Rail 
Improvements Project has been advanced concurrently as a component of 
the overall corridor program. The Tier 2 evaluation considers the 
environmental and transportation impacts of rail routes through the 
City of Springfield, Illinois; addressing safety, noise, and traffic 
delays that would result from increased volumes of both passenger and 
freight rail traffic on the three north-south rail corridors that pass 
through the City of Springfield.
    This Draft EIS has been prepared by FRA and IDOT consistent with 
the provisions of Section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Council on 
Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations implementing NEPA (40 CFR part 
1500 et seq.), and FRA's Procedures for Considering Environmental 
Impacts (64 FR 28545; May 26, 1999).
    Copies of the Draft EIS are available online at FRA's Web site: 
http://www.fra.dot.gov and IDOT's Web site: http://www.idothsr.org/; 
the document is also available for viewing at the following locations 
along the Corridor:

 Hayner Library, 326 Belle Street, Alton, IL 62002
 Atlanta Public Library District, 100 Race Street, Atlanta, IL 
61723
 Auburn Public Library, 338 West Jefferson Street, Auburn, IL 
62615
 Bloomington Public Library, 205 East Olive Street, 
Bloomington, IL 61701
 Blue Island Library, 2433 York Street, Blue Island, IL 60406
 Fossil Ridge Public Library, 386 West Kennedy Road, Braidwood, 
IL 60408
 Brighton Memorial Public Library, 110 North Main Street, 
Brighton, IL 62012
 Carlinville Public Library, 510 North Broad Street, 
Carlinville, IL 62626
 Chatham Area Public Library, 600 East Spruce Street, Chatham, 
IL 62629
 Chenoa Public Library District, 211 South Division Street, 
Chenoa, IL 61726
 Chicago Public Library-Harold Washington, 400 South State 
Street, Chicago, IL 60605
 Prairie Creek Public Library, 501 Carriage House Lane, Dwight, 
IL 60420
 East Alton Public Library, 250 Washington Avenue, East Alton, 
IL 62024
 East St. Louis Public Library, 5300 State Street, East St. 
Louis, IL 62203
 Elkhart Public Library District, 121 East Bohan Street, 
Elkhart, IL 62634
 Manhattan-Elwood Public Library District, 240 Whitson Street, 
Manhattan, IL 60442
 Frankfort Public Library District, 21119 South Pfeiffer Road, 
Frankfort, IL 60423
 Girard Township Library, 201 West Madison Street, Girard, IL 
62640
 Six Mile Regional Library District, 2001 Delmar Avenue, 
Granite City, IL 62040
 Hartford Public Library District, 143 West Hawthorne Street, 
Hartford, IL 62048
 Joliet Public Library, 150 North Ottawa Street, Joliet, IL 
60432
 Lemont Public Library, 50 East Wend Street, Lemont, IL 60439
 Lexington Public Library District, 207 South Cedar Street, 
Lexington, IL 61753
 Lincoln Public Library, 725 Peking Street, Lincoln, IL 62656
 Lockport Public Library, 121 East 8th Street, Lockport, IL 
60441
 Madison Public Library, 1700 Fifth Street, Madison, IL 62060
 Mount Hope-Funks Grove Public Library, 111 South Hamilton 
Street, McLean, IL 61754
 Midlothian Public Library, 14701 South Kenton Avenue, 
Midlothian, IL 60445
 Mokena Community Public Library, 11327 West 195th Street, 
Mokena, IL 60448
 New Lenox Public Library, 120 Veterans Parkway, New Lenox, IL 
60451
 Normal Public Library, 206 West College Avenue, Normal, IL 
61761
 Acorn Public Library District, 15624 South Central Avenue, Oak 
Forest, IL 60452
 Odell Public Library District, 301 East Richard Street, Odell, 
IL 60460
 Orland Park Public Library, 14921 South Ravinia Avenue, Orland 
Park, IL 60462
 Pontiac Public Library, 211 East Madison Street, Pontiac, IL 
61764
 William Leonard Public Library District, 13820 Central Park 
Avenue, Robbins, IL 60472
 Sherman Public Library District, 2100 East Andrew Road, 
Sherman, IL 62684
 Springfield Lincoln Library, 326 South Seventh Street, 
Springfield, IL 62701
 St. Louis Central Library, 1310 Olive Street, St. Louis, MO 
63103
 Summit Public Library District, 6233 South Archer Road, 
Summit, IL 60501
 Tinley Park Public Library, 7851 Timber Drive, Tinley Park, IL 
60477
 Towanda District Library, 301 South Taylor Street, Towanda, IL 
61776
 Venice Public Library, 325 Broadway Avenue, Venice, IL 62090
 Grand Prairie of the West Public Library District, 142 West 
Jackson Street, Virden, IL 62690
 Williamsville Public Library, 141 West Main Street, 
Williamsville, IL 62693

[[Page 38884]]

 Wilmington Public Library District, 201 South Kankakee Street, 
Wilmington, IL 60481
 Wood River Public Library, 326 East Ferguson Avenue, Wood 
River, IL 62095

    Issued in Washington, DC on June 25, 2012.
Corey W. Hill,
Director, Rail Project Development and Delivery.
[FR Doc. 2012-15993 Filed 6-28-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P