[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 9, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 2038]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-31539]
Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 6 / Wednesday, January 9, 2013 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 2038]]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Transit Administration
49 CFR Part 611
[Docket No. FTA-2010-0009]
Notice of Availability of Proposed New Starts and Small Starts
Policy Guidance
AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of availability of proposed policy guidance; request for
comments.
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SUMMARY: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is announcing the
availability of proposed policy guidance to sponsors of New Starts and
Small Starts projects, and inviting comment on this proposed guidance,
which has been placed both in the docket and on the agency's web site.
This proposed policy guidance will accompany the final rule for Major
Capital Investment Projects published elsewhere in this issue of the
Federal Register. Specifically, this proposed policy guidance describes
the particular measures FTA intends to apply in evaluating projects
seeking New Starts and Small Starts funding and the way these measures
would be used in project ratings, if adopted. The final rule
establishes the framework for the New Starts and Small Starts
evaluation and rating process; this proposed policy guidance
complements the final rule by providing a deeper level of detail about
the methods for calculating the project justification and local
financial commitment criteria required for New Starts and Small Starts
projects.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 11, 2013. Any
comments received beyond this deadline will be considered to the extent
practicable.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments to DOT docket number FTA-2010-0009
by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and
follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
U.S. Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building, Room W12-
140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
Hand Delivery or Courier: U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200
New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140,
Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays.
Fax: 202-493-2251.
Instructions: You must include the agency name (Federal Transit
Administration) and docket number (FTA-2010-0009) for this notice at
the beginning of your comments. You must submit two copies of your
comments if you submit them by mail. If you wish to receive
confirmation FTA received your comments, you must include a self-
addressed, stamped postcard. Due to security procedures in effect since
October 2001, mail received through the U.S. Postal Service may be
subject to delays. Parties submitting comments may wish to consider
using an express mail firm to ensure prompt filing of any submissions
not filed electronically or by hand.
All comments received will be posted, without change and including
any personal information provided, to http://www.regulations.gov, where
they will be available to internet users. You may review DOT's complete
Privacy Act Statement published in the Federal Register on April 11,
2000, at 65 FR 19477. For access to the docket to read background
documents and comments received, go to http://regulations.gov at any
time or to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE., Docket Management Facility, West Building Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday
through Friday, except Federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For program matters, Elizabeth Day,
FTA Office of Planning and Environment, telephone (202) 366-5159 or
Elizabeth.Day@dot.gov. For legal matters, Scott Biehl, FTA Office of
Chief Counsel, telephone (202) 366-0826 or Scott.Biehl@dot.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 5309(g)(5), FTA is
obliged to publish policy guidance on the review and evaluation process
and criteria for major capital investment projects each time the agency
makes significant changes to the process and criteria, and in any
event, at least once every two years. Also, FTA is obliged to invite
public comment on the guidance, and to publish its response to
comments. In this instance, FTA is proposing policy guidance for the
New Starts and Small Starts process and criteria consistent with the
regulation at 49 CFR part 611 published elsewhere in this issue of the
Federal Register, which will take effect on April 9, 2013. FTA asks
that comments on the proposed policy guidance be submitted within 60
days of today's notice, so that FTA may respond to comments and make
any revisions to the guidance to coincide with the effective date of
the regulation.
The proposed policy guidance is available in its entirety on FTA's
public Web site at http://www.fta.dot.gov, and in the docket at http://www.regulatons.gov. It is approximately 30 typewritten pages in length.
The proposed policy guidance addresses, in detail, measures and methods
for calculating both the local financial commitment criteria for a New
Starts or Small Starts project, and the project justification criteria.
The proposed policy guidance sets forth breakpoints for determining
whether a project rates ``high,'' ``medium-high,'' ``medium,''
``medium-low,'' or ``low'' against the various criteria for both
project justification and local financial commitment. Also, the
proposed policy guidance addresses the use of time horizons for
calculating various measures and the weighting of the criteria and
measures to arrive at an overall project rating.
The rulemaking that led to the issuance of the new regulation at 49
CFR part 611 began in June 2009, well before the enactment of the
Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (``MAP-21'') in July
2012, which has reauthorized the Federal transit programs at 49 U.S.C.
Chapter 53 and made a number of significant changes, in particular, to
the discretionary capital investment program authorized at 49 U.S.C.
5309. Both the new regulation and the proposed policy guidance pertain
only to the evaluation and rating of New Starts and Small Starts
projects under Section 5309; they do not pertain to the new Core
Capacity Improvement program established by MAP-21, nor the evaluation
of Programs of Interrelated Projects, the pilot program for expedited
project delivery, or the process for expedited review of project
sponsors' technical capacity. Nor does the new regulation or the
proposed policy guidance address the procedural changes made to the
steps in the process, such as the elimination of the requirement for
Alternatives Analysis, the newly defined project development phase, and
the newly defined engineering phase, which were enacted by MAP-21.
Those subjects will be addressed through future rulemakings and policy
guidance.
Issued on: December 27, 2012.
Peter Rogoff,
Administrator, Federal Transit Administration.
[FR Doc. 2012-31539 Filed 1-3-13; 11:15 am]
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