[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 115 (Wednesday, June 16, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32300-32303]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-15321]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Transit Administration
Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Wilmington
Transit Connector, Wilmington, DE
AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration, DOT.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement.
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SUMMARY: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA), as Federal lead
agency, and the Delaware Transit Corporation (DTC), a division of the
Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT), as local lead agency,
in cooperation with the City of Wilmington (City) and the Wilmington
Area Planning Council (WILMAPCO), intend to prepare an Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS) on a proposed investment strategy to improve
mobility among major destinations within the City. The EIS will be
prepared in conformance with the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA). The corridor under study is approximately
[[Page 32301]]
1.8 miles in length and 0.5 miles in width, and encompasses the major
activity centers making up Wilmington's downtown. The planning horizon
for the work will be 20 years with the year 2020 to be employed as the
`design year.'
1. The alternatives include: (1) A No Build Alternative: this
alternative involves no change to transportation services or facilities
in the Corridor beyond already committed projects; (2) Transportation
Systems Management (TSM) Alternatives: these alternatives would
optimize existing transportation facilities and operations with low-
cost investments to meet the travel demand. Components of this
alternative include selected pedestrian, roadway and bus service
enhancements; (3) two types of build alternatives--dedicated bus or
busway and fixed rail. Each build alternative will consider a range of
technologies, routes/alignments, and service levels. Preliminary
routes/alignments have been identified for consideration in each of
four areas of the corridor beginning at the north end of the corridor,
as follows:
Segment 1--4 alignments serving Rodney Square Transit hub in the north
section;
Segment 2--2 north-south alignments in the central section of the
corridor;
Segment 3--3 alignments serving the Amtrak station transit hub; and
Segment 4--3 alignments serving the cultural/entertainment district in
the south Riverfront area.
Other alternatives or revisions to the above alternatives that
arise through the scoping process will also be considered.
Scoping will be accomplished through correspondence and meetings
with interested persons, organizations, and Federal, State, and local
agencies. A public meeting will be held regarding this project on
Tuesday, June 29, 1999 from 4 to 7 p.m. in Wilmington, Delaware. See
ADDRESSES below. The project also will be included in the future
meetings, workshops, and focus groups of the `Wilmington Initiatives,'
an element of the Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) for the
region, through which the public will have full and regular access to
project information and opportunity to comment on the findings as they
emerge. As part of the systems planning of the Wilmington Initiatives,
two public meetings have been held on April 14 and May 19 to discuss a
transit connector concept.
DATES:
Comment Due Date: Written comments on the alternatives to be
considered and comparative environmental impacts to be evaluated should
be postmarked by August 2, 1999 and sent to the Delaware Transit
Corporation or the Delaware Department of Transportation. See ADDRESSES
below.
Scoping Meeting: A public scoping meeting will be held on Tuesday,
June 29, 1999, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Grand Opera House. See ADDRESSES
below. The meeting will be held in an ``open-house'' format, and
representatives of DTC/DelDOT, the City of Wilmington and WILMAPCO will
be available to discuss the proposed project. Informational displays
and written material will also be available. Provision to make written
and verbal comments on the materials will be provided. The building in
which the scoping meeting will be conducted is accessible to people
with disabilities, and provisions will be made for the hearing
impaired.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to:
Mr. Raymond C. Miller, Director, Delaware Transit Corporation (DTC),
655 Bay Road, Suite 4G, Dover, DE 19901
or
Terry Fulmer, Manager of Environmental Services, Delaware Department of
Transportation (DelDOT), P.O. Box 778, Dover, DE 19903
The scoping meeting will be held as follows: Tuesday, June 29,
1999, From 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Grand Opera House, Lower Level
Function Room, 818 Market Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801.
As mentioned above, there will also be provisions for written and
verbal comments at the public meeting. People with special needs should
contact: Doug Andrews, Delaware Transit Corporation (DTC), 400 S.
Madison Street, Wilmington, DE 19801, (302) 577-3278 x3451.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John T. Garrity, Federal Transit
Administration (FTA), Region III, 1760 Market Street, Suite 500,
Philadelphia, PA 19103-4124, (215) 656-7100.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Scoping
FTA and the DTC/DelDOT, along with the City and WILMAPCO, invite
interested individuals, organizations, and Federal, State, and local
agencies to participate in defining transportation alternatives to be
evaluated in the EIS and in identifying social, economic, or
environmental issues related to the alternatives. An information packet
describing the Wilmington Transit Connector, the study area, the
proposed alternatives, and the impact areas to be evaluated are being
mailed to affected Federal, State, and local agencies. Other interested
parties may request the scoping materials by contacting Mr. Raymond C.
Miller, Director of the Delaware Transit Corporation. See ADDRESSES
above.
During scoping, comments should focus on identifying social,
economic, or environmental impacts to be evaluated and suggesting
alternatives that meet identified mobility needs in a cost-effective
manner. However, scoping is not the appropriate time to indicate a
preference for a particular alternative. Comments on preferences should
be communicated after the scoping, during and immediately after the
development of Alternatives Analysis Draft EIS. If you wish to be
placed on the mailing list to receive further information as the
project develops, contact Mr. Raymond C. Miller, Director of the
Delaware Transit Corporation. See ADDRESSES above.
II. Description of Study Area and Project Need
The study area extends from 14th Street in the north to Walnut
Street on the east, along the Christina River in the southwest, to the
Conrail rail tracks to the south, I-95 on the west, to 2nd Street east
to Washington Street, joining 14th Street. The corridor is
approximately 1.8 miles long and 0.5 miles wide. The corridor
encompasses the major activity centers making up Wilmington's downtown
and the developing riverfront entertainment district:
1. Substantial Office Core: Currently there are 8 million square
feet of single-tenant and 4.2 million of square feet of multi-unit
tenant office space in downtown Wilmington.
2. Downtown Retail Areas: Downtown Wilmington contains
approximately 200,000 square feet of retail space.
3. Cultural Facilities: Cultural facilities include the Grand Opera
House, the Dupont Playhouse, the Delaware Theatre Company, the Delaware
Historical Society, Opera Delaware, the Christina Cultural Arts Center
and the First USA Riverfront Arts Center. Wilmington's cultural
attractions generate at least half a million visitors per year today.
4. Higher Education Facilities: Seven educational institutions with
a current enrollment of 4,000 students are located in the corridor.
5. Hotels: Five hotels, with close to 850 rooms, generate
approximately 230,000 guests per year today.
[[Page 32302]]
This area is the transportation hub of the region and is traversed
by intercity rail, bus and highway networks extending up and down the
northeast corridor of the United States. The corridor accounts for
approximately 20% of the State of Delaware employment and 64% of the
City's workforce.
The need for the project arises from three considerations:
distances between major activity centers, constrained access to several
of these activity centers, and planned economic development that is
constrained by transportation access. First, Wilmington's corporate
offices, retail, educational, cultural and entertainment centers are
dispersed along most of the corridor. A major travel market for a
transit service is the office employment in this corridor. However,
employment sites are spread out over a length of about one mile
(Christina Gateway Complex between 2nd and 4th Streets at Walnut and
the Rodney Square/Delaware Avenue area (north of 9th Street).
Supportive land uses of retail and entertainment are generally
separated from these concentrations by more than the typical one to
three block distance that workers will walk at lunch time or after
work. Considering current and projected (year 2006) employment
approximately 1,700 trips per day would be generated for reliable
transit service in this corridor. Other identified markets for transit
in this corridor include: riverfront attractions and jobs (1,850
potential trips), commuting to and from train station (300 trips) and
trips to and from educational facilities (100 trips).
Second, access to the rapidly developing entertainment, cultural,
and retail centers on the riverfront is constrained by the northeast
corridor viaduct, I-95, and the river. Patrons arriving at the train
station in the middle of the corridor have limited options for getting
to the new Exhibition center or retail due to these barriers and their
effect on street configuration and connection. While the Downtown
Circuit bus connects these two locations, the route is circuitous and
subject to traffic delays. Use of an abandoned rail corridor, now owned
by the state presents one of the few options for increased capacity and
reliability of transit service.
Finally, the study corridor contains the City's major office,
retail, hotel, transportation, cultural and educational facilities, and
more is coming. Office facilities include several corporate
headquarters and Federal and State office complexes. Entertainment/
retail facilities have expanded along the riverfront and more is on the
drawing boards. Hotels include the Hotel DuPont, a national historic
landmark and national chains such as Wyndham, Marriott and Sheraton. A
new hotel and residential apartments were announced in early 1999. A
``Shipyard Shops'' retail complex opened on the riverfront in May 1999.
A rejuvenated retail area on southern Market Street called ``Ship's
Tavern District'' breaks ground in May 1999. The study corridor also
includes a judicial complex currently under construction at Fourth and
King Streets. The Wilmington train station, with AMTRAK and regional
rail facilities, serves as a major transit hub in the middle of the
corridor; with Rodney Square, the transit hub in the northern segment.
A major challenge of this study is how to efficiently serve these
facilities and limit traffic and parking impacts. A high quality
transit service in this corridor would allow implementation of a park-
once policy, so that internally generated traffic and land devoted to
parking would be minimized.
Also at issue is the need to link workers to the new jobs. To
accomplish this will require better transit service between the train
station and riverfront developments and between in-town neighborhoods
and the new employment centers in the corridor.
III. Alternatives
Among the alternatives that the Alternatives Analysis and DEIS will
evaluate are:
1. No Build Alternative: this alternative involves no change to
transportation services or facilities in the Corridor beyond projects
already committed for construction in the regional transportation
improvement program and state capital improvement program.
2. Transportation Systems Management (TSM) Alternatives: these
alternatives would optimize existing transportation facilities and
operations with low-cost investments to meet the travel demand and
improve safety. Components of this alternative will include selected
pedestrian, roadway and bus service enhancements.
3. Fixed Guideway Alternatives: fixed guideway alternatives will
include dedicated busway and rail alternatives, employing a combination
of existing streets and former rail right-of-way. A range of specific
alignments will be considered.
It is expected that the public scoping process and written comments
will be a major source of additional candidate alternatives for
consideration in the study. The types of transportation alternatives
suggested in prior studies for consideration in this corridor includes
Transportation Systems Management (TSM) options such as changes in
transit routes, fares, and equipment, parking enforcement, and traffic
operational changes. Major capital improvements considered have
included both rubber-tire trolley and rail transit alternatives.
The alternatives to be evaluated in the EIS will be based on an
element of the Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) for the region,
known as the Wilmington Initiatives. The transit element of the
Initiatives is defined by six analyses:
Rummel, Klepper & Kahl Consulting Engineers, Parsons
Brinkerhoff, and Richard H. Pratt, Consultant, Inc. Regional Rail Study
Phase III: Transit Opportunities Along Rail Corridors Within Northern
New Castle County ``Initial Feasibility Assessment: 6 Corridors''.
Delaware Department of Transportation, 1996.
Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson. Downtown Wilmington
Transportation Study: Draft Technical Report, Downtown Circulation
Study. 1997.
TransManagement, Inc. Downtown Wilmington Land Use and
Development Capacity Assessment. 1997.
SG Associates, Inc. Wilmington Transportation Studies
Transit Shuttle Feasibility Analysis. 1998.
SG Associates, Inc. Wilmington Transportation Studies
Transit Downtown Free Fare Zone Feasibility Analysis. 1998
Kimley-Horne and Associates, Inc. Wilmington 2000
Streetcar Conceptual Study. 1998.
These analyzes may be reviewed at the Delaware Transit Corporation,
400 Madison Street, Wilmington; WILMAPCO, 850 Library Avenue, Suite
100, Newark, the Wilmington Institute Public Library at 10th & Market
Streets, Wilmington [or obtained from Doug Andrews, Delaware Transit
Corporation]. See ADDRESSES above.
IV. Factors To Be Evaluated
FTA and the DTC/DelDOT, along with the City and WILMAPCO, will
evaluate the social, economic, and environmental impacts of the
alternatives under consideration. Among the primary transportation
issues to be evaluated are the expected increase in transit ridership,
including recreational and work trips and the expected increased need
for mobility for the transit dependent population. The support of the
region's air quality goals, economic benefits, satisfying overall
transportation needs of the corridor, capital outlays needed to
construct the project, cost of operating and
[[Page 32303]]
maintaining the facilities created by the project, and the financial
impacts on the funding agencies will all be considered. Potentially
affected environmental and social resources to be evaluated include,
land use and neighborhood impacts, residential and business
displacements and relocations, impacts on historic properties and
districts, traffic and parking impacts near stations and along the
alignments, economic development potential, visual impacts, impacts on
cultural resources, and impacts on parklands. Impacts on archaeological
resources, air quality, water quality, wetlands and noise will also be
considered. New information will be gathered and detailed studies on
these subjects will be conducted as necessary. Existing findings about
the presence of sites containing hazardous materials will be summarized
and utilized; additional studies will be done as necessary. The
environmental impacts will be evaluated both for the construction
period and for the long-term period of operation. Measures to mitigate
adverse impacts will be considered.
V. FTA Procedures
In accordance with the regulations and guidance established by the
Council on Environmental Quality, as well as with 23 CFR 450 and 23 CFR
771 of the FTA/Federal Highway Administration planning and
environmental regulations and policies, an Alternatives Analysis/Draft
EIS (DEIS) will include an evaluation of the social, economic, and
environmental impacts of the alternatives and will review alternatives
on the basis of conceptual design. The EIS will also comply with the
requirements of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA) and with
the Executive Order 12898 on Environmental Justice. After its
preparation, the Alternatives Analysis/DEIS will be available for
public and agency review and comment and a public hearing will be held.
On the basis of the Alternatives Analysis/DEIS, and the comments
received, the City will select a locally preferred alternative for a
major investment strategy.
The locally preferred alternative will then be reaffirmed by the
MPO for inclusion into the Metropolitan Transportation Plan and the
Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). Following this action, the
DTC / DelDOT will request FTA authorization to initiate preliminary
engineering and to proceed with needed additional environmental studies
prior to issuance of a Final EIS.
Issued on: June 11, 1999.
Sheldon A. Kinbar,
Regional Administrator, Federal Transit Administration, Region III.
[FR Doc. 99-15321 Filed 6-15-99; 8:45 am]
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