[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 210 (Tuesday, October 30, 2012)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 65619-65621]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-26600]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

33 CFR Part 117

[Docket No. USCG-2012-0895]


Drawbridge Operation Regulations; Taunton River, MA

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Notice of deviation from drawbridge regulation; request for 
comments.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard has issued a temporary deviation from the 
operating schedule that governs the Veterans Memorial Bridge across the 
Taunton River, mile 2.1, between Fall River and Somerset, 
Massachusetts. This deviation will test a change to the drawbridge 
operation schedule to determine whether a permanent change to the 
schedule is needed. This deviation will allow us to test an operating 
schedule to help determine the hours the bridge should be crewed. It is 
expected that this test will help determine the best operating schedule 
that will meet the present and future needs of navigation.

DATES: This deviation is effective from December 1, 2012, through May 
29, 2013.

[[Page 65620]]

    Comments and related material must be received by the Coast Guard 
on or before June 1, 2013. Requests for public meetings must be 
received by the Coast Guard on or before March 1, 2013.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by docket number USCG-
2012-0895 using any one of the following methods:
    (1) Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
    (2) Fax: 202-493-2251.
    (3) Mail or Delivery: Docket Management Facility (M-30), U.S. 
Department of Transportation, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001. Deliveries 
accepted between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except 
federal holidays. The telephone number is 202-366-9329.
    See the ``Public Participation and Request for Comments'' portion 
of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below for instructions on 
submitting comments. To avoid duplication, please use only one of these 
four methods. See the ``Public Participation and Request for Comments'' 
portion of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below for instructions 
on submitting comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this 
temporary deviation, call or email Mr. John McDonald, Project Officer, 
First Coast Guard District bridge Program the Coast Guard; telephone 
617-223-8364, email [email protected]. If you have questions on 
viewing or submitting material to the docket, call Renee V. Wright, 
Program Manager, Docket Operations, telephone 202-366-9826.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Public Participation and Request for Comments

    We encourage you to participate in this rulemaking by submitting 
comments and related materials. All comments received will be posted, 
without change, to http://www.regulations.gov and will include any 
personal information you have provided.

1. Submitting Comments

    If you submit a comment, please include the docket number for this 
rulemaking (USCG-2012-0895), indicate the specific section of this 
document to which each comment applies, and provide a reason for each 
suggestion or recommendation. You may submit your comments and material 
online (http://www.regulations.gov), or by fax, mail or hand delivery, 
but please use only one of these means. If you submit a comment online 
via http://www.regulations.gov, it will be considered received by the 
Coast Guard when you successfully transmit the comment. If you fax, 
hand deliver, or mail your comment, it will be considered as having 
been received by the Coast Guard when it is received at the Docket 
Management Facility. We recommend that you include your name and a 
mailing address, an email address, or a phone number in the body of 
your document so that we can contact you if we have questions regarding 
your submission.
    To submit your comment online, go to http://www.regulations.gov, 
insert ``USCG-2012-0895'' in the Search box, click ``Search,'' look for 
this notice of deviation in the docket and click on the ``submit a 
comment'' box on that same line. If you submit your comments by mail or 
hand delivery, submit them in an unbound format, no larger than 8\1/2\ 
by 11 inches, suitable for copying and electronic filing. If you submit 
them by mail and would like to know that they reached the Facility, 
please enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard or envelope. We will 
consider all comments and material received during the comment period 
and may change the rule based on your comments.

2. Viewing Comments and Documents

    To view comments, as well as documents mentioned in this preamble 
as being available in the docket, go to http://www.regulations.gov, 
insert ``USCG-2012-0895'' in the Search box, and click ``Search.'' You 
may also visit the Docket Management Facility in Room W12-140 on the 
ground floor of the Department of Transportation West Building, 1200 
New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. We have an agreement 
with the Department of Transportation to use the Docket Management 
Facility.

3. Privacy Act

    Anyone can search the electronic form of comments received into any 
of our dockets by the name of the individual submitting the comment (or 
signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an association, 
business, labor union, etc.). You may review a Privacy Act notice 
regarding our public dockets in the January 17, 2008, issue of the 
Federal Register (73 FR 3316).

4. Public Meeting

    We do not now plan to hold a public meeting. But you may submit a 
request for one on or before March 1, 2013, using one of the four 
methods specified under ADDRESSES. Please explain why one would be 
beneficial. If we determine that one would aid this rulemaking, we will 
hold one at a time and place announced by a later notice in the Federal 
Register.

B. Basis and Purpose

    The Veterans Memorial Bridge at mile 2.1, across the Taunton River 
between Somerset and Fall River, Massachusetts, has a vertical 
clearance of 60 feet at mean high water and 66 feet at mean low water. 
The horizontal clearance is 200 feet between the bridge protective 
fenders. The drawbridge operation regulations listed at 33 CFR 117.5, 
require the bridge to open on signal at all times.
    The waterway users are predominantly seasonal recreational vessels.
    The Veterans Memorial Bridge is a newly constructed double leaf 
bascule highway bridge at mile 2.1, upstream from the existing 
Brightman Street Route 6 highway bridge at mile 1.8, across the Taunton 
River.
    The owner of the bridge, Massachusetts Department of 
Transportation, submitted a request to the Coast Guard to change the 
drawbridge operating regulations that presently require the draw to be 
crewed 24 hours a day and open on signal at all times.
    The bridge owner proposes to crew the bridge less than 24 hours a 
day and operate the bridge as follows: The draw shall open on signal 
between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. daily. From 9 p.m. through 5 a.m., the draw 
shall open on signal after at least a 1-hour advance notice is given by 
calling the number posted at the bridge. From 6 p.m. on December 24 to 
midnight on December 25, and from 6 p.m. on December 31 to midnight on 
January 1, the draw shall open on signal if at least a 2-hour advance 
notice is given by calling the number posted at the bridge.
    The Coast Guard has decided to test the designated operating hours 
for the new bridge for 180 days to help determine if this schedule will 
meet the reasonable needs of navigation that presently transit the new 
bridge. Since this is a new bridge there is no historical record of 
bridge openings to help us determine if this request is reasonable.
    It is anticipated that due to the high vertical clearance of 60 
feet at mean high water and 66 feet at mean low, that the bridge should 
not be required to open frequently except for large sail vessels.

[[Page 65621]]

    In accordance with 33 CFR 117.35(e), the drawbridge must return to 
its regular operating schedule immediately at the end of the effective 
period of this deviation. This deviation from the operating regulations 
is authorized under 33 CFR 117.35.

    Dated: October 16, 2012.
Gary Kassof,
Bridge Program Manager, First Coast Guard District.
[FR Doc. 2012-26600 Filed 10-29-12; 8:45 am]
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