[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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