[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 29 (Wednesday, February 12, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8530-8532]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-03050]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Transit Administration
Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the
Gateway Corridor Project From Saint Paul to Woodbury in Ramsey to
Washington Counties, MN
AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Department of
Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement
(EIS).
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SUMMARY: The Federal Transit Agency (FTA), as the lead federal agency,
the Washington County Regional Railroad Authority (WCRRA), and the
Metropolitan Council intend to prepare an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) for the proposed Gateway Corridor project. The Gateway
Corridor project is a planned transitway approximately 12 miles in
length located in Ramsey and Washington Counties in the eastern part of
the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, Minnesota. The project is located in
a corridor generally parallel to Interstate 94 (I-94) and will better
connect downtown Saint Paul with its east side neighborhoods and the
suburban cities of Maplewood, Landfall, Oakdale, Lake Elmo, and
Woodbury. More broadly, the Gateway Corridor project will better
connect the eastern Twin Cities Metropolitan Area to the regional
transit network via the Union Depot multimodal hub in downtown Saint
Paul. The project is also intended to serve and draw ridership from
other portions of the metropolitan area, including portions of eastern
Washington County and western St. Croix County (Wisconsin) to the east,
Dakota County to the south, and the city of Minneapolis and Hennepin
County to the west.
The EIS will be prepared in accordance with the requirements of the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and its implementing
regulations with FTA as the lead agency. The purpose of this notice is
to alert interested parties of the intent to prepare the EIS; to
provide information on the nature of the proposed action and possible
alternatives; to invite public participation in the EIS process,
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including comments on the scope of the Draft EIS proposed in this
notice; and to announce that public and agency scoping meetings will be
conducted.
DATES: Written comments on the scope of the EIS, submitted by email or
regular mail, must be received no later than April 16, 2014, and must
be sent to Andy Gitzlaff. See ADDRESSES below for the location to which
written comments may be submitted. Public scoping meetings to accept
comments on the scope of the EIS will be held on the following dates:
[ssquf] Monday, March 24, 2014, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., at Guardian
Angels Catholic Church (8260 4th Street N, Oakdale, MN 55128).
[ssquf] Tuesday, March 25, 2014, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., at Conway
Recreation Center (2090 Conway Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55119).
Comments will also be accepted at the Gateway Corridor Policy
Advisory Committee meeting on Thursday, April 10, 2014, at 2:00 p.m. at
Woodbury City Hall (8301 Valley Creek Road, Woodbury, MN 55125).
An interagency scoping meeting for agencies with interest in the
project will be held on the following date:
[ssquf] Thursday, March 20, 2014, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, at
the Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. office (2550 University Avenue
West, Suite 238N, Saint Paul, MN 55114).
All the scoping meetings will be accessible to persons with
disabilities. If special translation services or other special
accommodations are needed, please contact Andy Gitzlaff (see ADDRESSES
below) at least 48 hours prior to the meeting. A Scoping information
packet, providing information on the Gateway Corridor project including
project purpose and need, as well as alternatives proposed for
evaluation in the EIS, will be available at public Scoping meetings,
and will also be available on the project Web site: http://www.thegatewaycorridor.com/. Paper copies of Scoping materials may also
be obtained from Andy Gitzlaff (see ADDRESSES below).
ADDRESSES: Andy Gitzlaff, Project Manager, Washington County Public
Works Department, 11660 Myeron Road North, Stillwater, MN 55082, Phone:
(651) 430-4300, Email: Gateway [email protected], Fax: (651)
430-4350.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Maya Sarna, Environmental Protection
Specialist, FTA Headquarters, Washington, DC, Phone: 202-366-5811,
Email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Scoping
The FTA, WCRRA, and Metropolitan Council invite all interested
individuals and organizations, public agencies, and Native American
Tribes to comment on the scope of the EIS for the proposed Gateway
Corridor project, including the project's purpose and need, the
alternatives to be studied, the environmental impacts to be evaluated,
and the evaluation methods to be used. Comments should address: (1)
Feasible alternatives that may better achieve the project's purpose and
need with fewer adverse impacts, and (2) any significant social,
economic, or environmental issues relating to the alternatives.
NEPA ``scoping'' has specific objectives: To identify the
significant environmental issues associated with alternatives to be
examined in detail, while also limiting consideration of issues that
are not truly significant. It is in the NEPA scoping process that
potentially significant environmental impacts, which give rise to the
need to prepare an EIS, should be identified. Transit projects may also
generate environmental benefits that should also be discussed.
Purpose and Need for the Project
The purpose of the Gateway Corridor project is to provide transit
service to meet existing and long-term regional mobility and local
accessibility needs for businesses and the traveling public within the
project area.
Five factors contribute to the need for the Gateway Corridor
project:
[ssquf] Limited transit service throughout the day and demand for
more frequent service over a greater time span.
[ssquf] Policy shift toward travel choices and multimodal
investments.
[ssquf] Population and employment growth, increasing access needs
and travel demand.
[ssquf] Needs of people who depend on transit.
[ssquf] Local and regional objectives for growth.
Project Location and Environmental Setting
The project is located in Ramsey and Washington Counties,
Minnesota. The character of the Gateway Corridor project area changes
from an urban setting in downtown and the east side of Saint Paul to a
transitional suburban/rural setting as it extends further east into the
suburbs of Maplewood, Landfall, Oakdale, Lake Elmo, and Woodbury.
Alternatives Analysis
The Gateway Corridor Alternatives Analysis (AA) Study was completed
by the Gateway Corridor Commission in February 2013. The AA Study
evaluated a No-Build alternative and a range of Build alternatives,
including a transportation system management alternative, a commuter
rail alternative, light rail transit (LRT) alternatives, and bus rapid
transit (BRT) alternatives on various alignments, including various
alignments along East 7th Street in Saint Paul, and Hudson Road. All
eight alternatives underwent detailed evaluation. At the end of the AA
process, it was recommended that both BRT and LRT alternatives adjacent
to Hudson Road move forward for consideration in the Draft EIS.
Information on the AA process will be available at scoping
meetings/summarized in the Scoping Booklet. The results of an
investigation of Gateway Corridor service on East 7th Street, as re-
visited during early phases of Draft EIS scoping, will be made
available for public review and comment. This will include the results
of technical analyses used as the basis for decision-making by Gateway
Corridor project technical and policy committees, supporting the
findings made through the AA process that eliminated the East 7th
Street alignment.
Proposed Alternatives
The following alternatives are currently under consideration for
further study in the EIS:
No-Build Alternative. The No-Build Alternative serves as the NEPA
baseline against which environmental effects of the Build alternatives
are measured. It is defined as the 2030 transportation network with
only those improvements already planned and programmed. The No-Build
alternative does not include the Gateway Corridor project.
LRT Alternative. The LRT alternative would include several station
stops between Union Depot in downtown Saint Paul and Manning Avenue in
Woodbury, for a length of approximately 12 miles. LRT would generally
travel in double-track, exclusive right-of-way (guideway) parallel to
Interstate 94 (I-94) west of Interstate 694 (I-694), and adjacent to
Hudson Road to the east. Between Woodbury Drive/Keats Avenue, there are
two alignment options: One south of I-94 in vicinity of the frontage
road/Hudson Road, and one north of I-94 along 4th Street North and
Hudson Boulevard, before crossing I-94 near Woodbury Drive/Keats
Avenue. The LRT Alternative would include tracks, stations and support
facilities, as well as transit service for LRT and connecting bus
routes.
[[Page 8532]]
BRT Alternative. The BRT alternative would generally include an
exclusive, two-way busway in dedicated guideway. The length of the
alignment would be approximately 12 miles, with several stations
between Union Depot in downtown Saint Paul and Manning Avenue in
Woodbury. BRT would generally travel parallel to I-94 to the west of I-
694 and adjacent to Hudson Road to the east, similar to the LRT
Alternative. The BRT Alternative would also include the same two
alignment options between I-694 and Keats Avenue, as described above.
It would include all facilities associated with the construction and
operation of BRT, including right-of-way, travel lanes, stations, and
support facilities, as well as transit service for BRT and connecting
bus routes.
Potential Impacts for Analysis
The purpose of the EIS process is to study, in a public setting,
the potentially significant effects of the proposed project on the
quality of the human environment. Primary areas of investigation for
this project may include, but might not be limited to: Transportation;
land use and consistency with applicable plans; land acquisition and
displacements; socioeconomic impacts; park and recreation resources;
historic and cultural resources; environmental justice; visual and
aesthetic qualities; air quality; noise and vibration; water quality,
wetlands, and floodplains;, and ecosystems, including threatened and
endangered species. Effects will be evaluated in the context of both
short-term construction and long-term operation of the Gateway Corridor
project. Direct project effects as well as indirect and cumulative
effects on the environment will be addressed. The environmental
analysis may reveal that the proposed project will not affect, or
affect substantially, many of the primary areas of investigation.
However, if any adverse impacts are identified, measures to avoid,
minimize, or mitigate those adverse effects will be proposed.
Procedures for Public and Agency Involvement
The regulations implementing NEPA call for public involvement in
the EIS Process. 23 U.S.C. 139 requires that FTA, WCRRA, and the
Metropolitan Council do the following: (1) Extend an invitation to
other federal and non-federal agencies and Native American tribes that
may have an interest in the proposed project to become ``participating
agencies;'' (2) provide an opportunity for involvement by participating
agencies and the public to help define the purpose and need for the
proposed project, as well as the range of alternatives for
consideration in the EIS; and (3) establish a plan for coordinating
public and agency participation in, and comment on, the environmental
review process. An invitation to become a participating or cooperating
agency, with Scoping materials appended, will be extended to other
federal and non-federal agencies and Native American tribes that may
have an interest in the proposed project. It is possible that FTA,
WCRRA, and the Metropolitan Council will not be able to identify all
federal and non-federal agencies and Native American tribes that may
have such an interest. Any federal or non-federal agency or Native
American tribe interested in the proposed project that does not receive
an invitation to become a participating agency should notify at the
earliest opportunity the Project Manager identified above under
ADDRESSES.
A comprehensive public involvement program for public and agency
involvement has been developed for the project and is available on the
project Web site. The public involvement program includes a full range
of activities including maintaining the project Web site and outreach
to local officials, community and civic groups, and the general public.
Paperwork Reduction
The Paperwork Reduction Act seeks, in part, to minimize the cost to
the taxpayer of the creation, collection, maintenance, use,
dissemination, and disposition of information. Consistent with this
goal and with principles of economy and efficiency in government, it is
FTA policy to limit insofar as possible distribution of complete
printed sets of environmental documents. Accordingly, unless a specific
request for a complete printed set of environmental documents is
received before the document is printed, at the latest, FTA and its
grantees will distribute only the executive summary of environmental
documents in printed form together with a compact disc (CD) that
contains the complete environmental document. A complete printed set of
the environmental documents will be available for review at the
grantee's offices and elsewhere; an electronic copy of the complete
environmental document will also be available on the grantee's Web
site.
Marisol Simon,
Regional Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2014-03050 Filed 2-11-14; 8:45 am]
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