[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 120 (Monday, June 23, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35632-35634]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-14560]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration


Early Scoping Reopening Notification for the Alternatives 
Analysis of the GA 400 Transit Initiative in Fulton County, Georgia

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of reopening of early scoping and comment periods and 
announcement of additional scoping meetings.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Metropolitan 
Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) issue this early scoping notice 
to advise other agencies and the public that they intend to conduct 
another round of early scoping. The additional early scoping period 
will continue the examination of potential alternatives for providing 
high-capacity transit in the Georgia (GA) 400 corridor in north Fulton 
County, GA from Dunwoody to Alpharetta. The alternatives would improve 
transit linkages and coverage to communities within this corridor and 
would enhance mobility and accessibility to and within the corridor by 
providing a more robust transit network that offers an alternative to 
automobile travel. This notice invites the public and agency officials 
to provide input to the ongoing alternatives analysis and system 
planning effort by commenting on the project's purpose and need, the 
project study area, the alternatives being considered, the 
transportation problems that are being addressed by the alternatives 
analysis study, public participation and outreach methods, the relevant 
transportation and community impacts and benefits being considered, 
known environmental issues raised by public and agency coordination to 
date, and the projected capital and operating costs of this project.
    The early scoping process is intended to support the alternatives 
analysis and a future National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) scoping 
process and will help streamline the future development of an 
environmental impact statement (EIS), if warranted. In addition, the 
early scoping process supports FTA planning requirements associated 
with the New Starts (``Section 5309'') funding program for certain 
kinds of major capital investments. Although recent legislation has led 
to changes in the New Starts process, MARTA will comply with all 
relevant FTA requirements relating to planning and project development 
to help analyze and screen alternatives in preparation for the NEPA 
process.
    The planned public meetings are described immediately below. A more 
detailed discussion of the project and this early scoping process is 
included in sections that follow.

DATES: Three early scoping meetings where the public and interested 
agencies can learn more about and comment on the scope of the 
alternatives analysis will be held on the following dates at the 
locations indicated under ADDRESSES below:
     Tuesday, July 8, 2014.
     Thursday, July 10, 2014.
     Thursday, July 17, 2014.
    At the early scoping meetings, MARTA will provide information on 
the alternatives analysis progress along with opportunities for written 
comments. Written or electronic scoping comments are requested by 
August 8, 2014, and can be sent or emailed to the MARTA project manager 
at the address below. Comments may also be offered at the early scoping 
meetings and will be accepted after the deadline as practicable.

ADDRESSES: Written or electronic comments should be sent to Mark 
Eatman, P.E., Project Manager, MARTA, 2424 Piedmont Road NE., Atlanta 
GA 30324-3330 or by email to [email protected]. If submitting an 
electronic comment, please type ``Connect 400 Early Scoping Comment for 
MARTA'' in the subject line of the email. MARTA maintains a Facebook 
page for the Connect 400 project and will notify Facebook followers, in 
conjunction with publication of this notice, to submit comments to the 
aforementioned email address as well.
    Early Scoping meetings will be held at the following locations:
     Tuesday, July 8, 2014, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., at Johns Creek 
Environmental Campus, 8100 Holcomb Bridge Road, Roswell, GA 30022.
     Thursday, July 10, 2014, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., at Georgia 
State University Alpharetta Center, 3775 Brookside Pkwy, Alpharetta, GA 
30022.
     Thursday, July 17, 2014, 6:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m., Hampton Inn 
Atlanta--Perimeter Center, 769 Hammond Dr. NE., Atlanta, GA 30328.
    The meeting locations are accessible to persons with disabilities. 
If translation, signing services, or other

[[Page 35633]]

special accommodations are needed, please contact the Project Manager, 
Mr. Mark Eatman at [email protected] or 404-848-4494, or the Senior 
Transit System Project Planner, Ms. Janide Sidifall at 
[email protected] or 404-848-5828 at least one week before the 
scoping meetings.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Keith Melton, Community Planner, 
FTA Region IV, 230 Peachtree Street NW., Suite 800, Atlanta, GA 30303 
or email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Early Scoping

    Early scoping is an optional early step in the NEPA process that 
precedes NEPA scoping, which normally begins when the FTA and the grant 
applicant publish a notice of intent to prepare an EIS. FTA encourages 
the use of early scoping for major planning activities and studies that 
may receive other FTA funding as a way to start the NEPA process during 
earlier project planning phases. Early scoping is intended to generate 
public and agency review and comments on the scope of a planning effort 
within a defined transportation corridor, which helps the agency to 
determine which particular alignment variations, should receive more 
focused study and development to streamline the NEPA process. Early 
scoping can serve not only to streamline the NEPA process, but also to 
firmly link transportation planning and NEPA, making sure that the 
public and interested agencies are given the opportunity to review and 
provide comments on the results of planning activities and studies that 
can then be used to inform the NEPA process.
    Early scoping for the GA 400 Transit Initiative was initially 
announced in 78 FR 53187, August 28, 2013, and is being conducted in 
support of NEPA requirements and in accordance with the Council on 
Environmental Quality's (CEQ) and FTA's regulations and guidance for 
implementing NEPA (40 CFR 1501.2 through 1501.8 and through 23 CFR 
771.111), which encourage federal agencies to initiate NEPA early in 
their planning processes. Early scoping allows the scoping process to 
begin as soon as there is enough information to describe the proposal 
so that the public and relevant agencies can participate effectively. 
This is particularly useful in situations when a proposed action 
involves a broadly defined corridor with an array of transit investment 
alternatives. This notice reopens early scoping and invites public and 
agency involvement with the ongoing supplementary planning activities 
and studies for the GA 400 Transit Initiative, including review of the 
(a) purpose and need, (b) the proposed alternatives, and (c) the 
potential environmental, transportation, and community impacts and 
benefits to consider during the NEPA process.

The GA 400 Transit Initiative and the Regional Transit System

    The GA 400 Corridor Alternatives Analysis (AA) was initiated by 
MARTA in late 2011 to identify potential and feasible transit modal 
alternatives in the GA 400 corridor to address travel demands. The GA 
400 corridor is the transportation spine of northern Fulton County, one 
of the fastest growing sub-regions in the metro-Atlanta region. The GA 
400 Corridor AA addressed the travel market in a study area generally 
extending north along GA 400 from I-285 in Dunwoody to the Fulton/
Forsyth County line north of Alpharetta, a distance of approximately 15 
miles. The corridor is home to many employment centers, including 
Perimeter Center in the southern portion of the corridor, one of the 
largest employment centers for the region. Transit service to and 
within the study area is provided primarily by MARTA heavy rail and 
bus. The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) also operates 
two bus routes that connect the southern portion of the GA 400 corridor 
with express bus service at peak hours to/from the north and southeast 
outside the GA 400 corridor. Rail service extends from Downtown Atlanta 
to the major retail and employment centers, including the Medical 
Center and Perimeter Center in Dunwoody and Sandy Springs in the 
southern portion of the corridor. MARTA bus service primarily functions 
as feeder service to MARTA heavy rail stations from areas to the north, 
including Roswell, Alpharetta and Milton. A number of the bus routes 
and the MARTA heavy rail stations serve park-and-ride facilities.

Purpose and Need for the Proposed Project

    MARTA invites comments on the following preliminary statement of 
the project's purpose and need.
    The purpose of the project is to provide reliable, convenient, 
efficient, and sustainable transit service in the GA 400 corridor by:
     Providing high capacity transit (bus and/or rail) through 
the GA 400 corridor study area;
     Improving transit linkages and coverage to communities 
within the study area; and
     Enhancing mobility and accessibility to and within the 
study area by providing a more robust transit network that offers an 
alternative to automobile travel.
    The need for this project arises from the following:
     Travel demand--Increased travel demand and traffic 
congestion;
     Transit mobility--There is inadequate transit connectivity 
within the northern Fulton study area and between the study area and 
DeKalb, Gwinnett, and Cobb Counties and central Atlanta. In addition, 
east-west transit connectivity is inadequate. The limited routes across 
the Chattahoochee River reflect the inadequate transit connectivity;
     Transit travel times--Transit travel times are not 
competitive with auto travel times due to the lack of express service; 
this is true for north-south trips within the study area and for trips 
with origins and destinations outside the study area. Transit and auto 
travel times cannot be compared for east-west trips as there is no 
east-west transit service;
     Economic development--Traffic congestion caused by 
insufficient transportation system capacity affects both personal 
travel and goods movement, which constrains economic development 
opportunities; and
     Air quality--The continued growth of vehicular travel will 
negatively affect air quality in the study area and the region.

Potential Alternatives

    MARTA has been exploring alternative transit mode, alignment, and 
design options for high capacity transit service in the GA 400 corridor 
using a three-step evaluation process. The three-step evaluation 
process includes a Fatal Flaw Analysis, Screen 1 and Screen 2 and is 
generally characterized by the application of an increasingly detailed 
and comprehensive set of performance measures to a decreasing number of 
alternatives. Each step in the evaluation process focuses the analysis 
on progressively fewer alternatives with higher levels of scrutiny. In 
addition, the Build Alternatives are compared not only to each other 
but also to the No-Build Alternative, which provides the benchmark for 
establishing the travel benefits, environmental impacts of the 
alternatives and the cost-effectiveness of the alternatives. The GA 400 
Corridor Transit Initiative is currently in Screen 2. After 
consideration of the findings of the first and second steps in the 
evaluation process, MARTA has identified an alignment that would 
provide approximately 11.9 miles of transit service along the GA 400 
corridor within existing right-of-way from the existing North Springs 
MARTA station

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to Windward Parkway. This alignment is referred to as the GA 400-1A 
Build Alternative. Bus rapid transit (BRT), heavy rail transit (HRT), 
and light rail transit (LRT) are the three transit modes or 
technologies being considered for this corridor. The three modes each 
have the same general alignment, following GA 400 from North Springs 
MARTA station to Windward Parkway. The LRT and the BRT alternatives 
have six stations, from south to north: Northridge, Holcomb Bridge, 
Mansell Road, North Point Mall, Old Milton and Windward Parkway. The 
HRT alternative is similar, but it does not currently include a station 
at Old Milton. The outcome of Screen 2 will be the recommendation of 
the preferred alternative. MARTA may also consider other alternatives 
that arise during the early scoping comment period.

FTA Procedures

    At the end of the alternatives analysis process, FTA and MARTA 
anticipate identifying a preferred mode and corridor for further 
evaluation during the NEPA process. The classification of the NEPA 
documentation will be determined by the FTA at the end of the 
alternatives analysis. If the preferred mode and alignment involve the 
potential for significant environmental impacts an EIS may be required. 
If an EIS is required, a Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS will be 
published in the Federal Register by FTA and the public and interested 
agencies will have the opportunity to participate in a review and 
comment period on the scope of the EIS.

    Dated: June 18, 2014.
Yvette G. Taylor,
Regional Administrator Federal Transit Administration, Region IV.
[FR Doc. 2014-14560 Filed 6-20-14; 8:45 am]
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