[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 184 (Friday, September 21, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47960-47961]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-20578]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration


Limitation on Claims Against Proposed Public Transportation 
Projects

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces final environmental actions taken by the 
Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for projects in New York City, New 
York, and Redmond, Washington. The purpose of this notice is to 
announce publicly the environmental decisions by FTA on the subject 
projects and to activate the limitation on any claims that may 
challenge these final environmental actions.

DATES: By this notice, FTA is advising the public of final agency 
actions subject to 23 U.S.C. 139(l). A claim seeking judicial review of 
FTA actions announced herein for the listed public transportation 
projects will be barred unless the claim is filed on or before February 
19, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nancy-Ellen Zusman, Assistant Chief 
Counsel, Office of Chief Counsel, (312) 353-2577 or Juliet Bochicchio, 
Environmental Protection Specialist, Office of Environmental Programs, 
(202) 366-9348. FTA is located at 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, 
Washington, DC 20590. Office hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is hereby given that FTA has taken 
final agency actions by issuing certain approvals for the public 
transportation projects listed below. The actions on the projects, as 
well as the laws under which such actions were taken, are described in 
the documentation issued in connection with the projects to comply with 
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and in other documents in 
the FTA environmental project file for the projects. Interested parties 
may contact either the project sponsor or the relevant FTA Regional 
Office for more information. Contact information for FTA's Regional 
Offices may be found at https://www.fta.dot.gov.
    This notice applies to all FTA decisions on the listed projects as 
of the

[[Page 47961]]

issuance date of this notice and all laws under which such actions were 
taken, including, but not limited to, NEPA [42 U.S.C. 4321-4375], 
Section 4(f) requirements [23 U.S.C. 138, 49 U.S.C. 303], Section 106 
of the National Historic Preservation Act [54 U.S.C. 306108], and the 
Clean Air Act [42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q]. This notice does not, however, 
alter or extend the limitation period for challenges of project 
decisions subject to previous notices published in the Federal 
Register. The projects and actions that are the subject of this notice 
are:
    1. Project name and location: The Metropolitan Transportation 
Authority (MTA) Long Island Railroad East Side Access Project, New 
York, NY. Project sponsor: Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 
Project description: The East Side Access (ESA) Project will connect 
the Long Island Rail Road's (LIRR) Main and Port Washington Lines in 
Queens to a new LIRR terminal beneath Grand Central Terminal in 
Manhattan. The MTA evaluated various project changes in ten prior 
technical memoranda. In Technical Memorandum No. 11, the MTA proposed 
to defer completion of the planned 48th Street entrance to a later, 
undetermined date; enhance a planned ESA entrance at 47th Street to 
accommodate modified pedestrian flows as a result of the deferred 48th 
Street entrance; modify the airflow system to account for deferral of 
an intake/exhaust point in the planned 48th Street entrance; and 
construct a temporary emergency egress hatch in the sidewalk of 48th 
Street between Madison and Vanderbilt Avenues. This notice only applies 
to the discrete actions taken by FTA at this time, as described below. 
Nothing in this notice affects FTA's previous decisions, or notice 
thereof, for this project. Final agency actions: FTA determination that 
the approved environmental document for this project remains valid for 
the requested administrative action; therefore, neither a supplemental 
environmental impact statement nor a supplemental environmental 
assessment is necessary. Supporting documentation: Environmental Re-
Evaluation Consultation form prepared for Technical Memorandum No. 11--
48th Street Entrance Deferral, dated March 30, 2018.
    2. Project name and location: Sound Transit Downtown Redmond Link 
Extension Project, Redmond, WA. Project Sponsor: Sound Transit. Project 
description: Sound Transit proposed project changes which include 
design refinements to Segment E of the original East Link Light Rail 
Transit Project as described in the Final Environmental Impact 
Statement (FEIS) dated July, 2011. FTA issued a Record of Decision 
(ROD) for the East Link Light Rail Transit Project in November, 2011. 
The project would extend light rail transit service for 3.4 miles from 
the East Link interim terminus at NE 40th Street, just past the Redmond 
Technology Center Station, and terminate just east of 164th Avenue NE. 
This would be approximately 0.3 mile shorter compared to the original 
East Link Light Rail Transit Project described in the 2011 FEIS and 
ROD. The project includes two stations: An at-grade SE Redmond Station 
and an elevated Downtown Redmond Station. The project also includes 
vertical profile modifications and horizontal alignment shifts as 
compared to the original East Link Light Rail Transit Project, however 
the project corridor follows the same general route as originally 
proposed in the 2011 FEIS and ROD. FTA finds that the changes described 
are not considered substantial and will not result in significant 
environmental impacts that were not evaluated in the July 2011 FEIS. 
This notice only applies to the discrete actions taken by FTA at this 
time, as described below. Nothing in this notice affects FTA's previous 
decisions, or notice thereof, for this project. Final agency actions: 
FTA determination that the approved environmental document for this 
project remains valid for the requested administrative action; 
therefore, neither a supplemental environmental impact statement nor a 
supplemental environmental assessment is necessary. Supporting 
documentation: Sound Transit Downtown Redmond Link Extension Project, 
East Link Light Rail Transit Project--Segment E, NEPA Environmental Re-
Evaluation dated August 29, 2018.

Elizabeth S. Riklin,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Planning and Environment.
[FR Doc. 2018-20578 Filed 9-20-18; 8:45 am]
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