622 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 3 / Wednesday, January 5, 2011 / Notices 

Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590, 

Monday through Friday, except Federal 

holidays. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title: Highways for LIFE Omnibus 

Survey for Technology Deployment. 

Background: The Highways for LIFE 

program was established by the 109th 

Congress within Sections 1101 and 1502 

of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, 

Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A 

Legacy for Users (Pub. L. 109–59). 

Within that law, under the topic 

‘‘Technology Transfer and Information 

Dissemination,’’ it states that ‘‘The 

Secretary shall conduct a highways for 

life technology transfer program.’’ It 

further states that ‘‘The Secretary shall 

establish a process for stakeholder input 

and involvement in the development, 

implementation, and evaluation of the 

Highways for LIFE Pilot Program. The 

process may include participation by 

representatives of the State departments 

of transportation and other interested 

persons.’’ Also, it states that, ‘‘The 

Secretary shall monitor and evaluate the 

effectiveness of any activity carried out 

under this section.’’ 

A critical element in accomplishing 

these goals is to ensure that the 

technologies being deployed by FHWA 

and implemented by the States actually 

fill a specific need. Therefore, it is 

important that FHWA obtain feedback 

both before and after specific 

technologies are transferred. If, for 

example, FHWA determined on its own 

that a particular innovation was 

important, yet never actually 

determined whether States would value 

such an innovation, much time and 

money would have been wasted. Or, if 

there were an innovation that was 

deployed to States, yet FHWA never 

followed up to determine if the effort 

was a success, or how it might be even 

more successful, lessons could not be 

learned and put into effect. 

In FHWA’s Strategic Plan, the first 

goal listed is ‘‘National Leadership.’’ 

Under that topic, the first objective is 

‘‘Advance Innovation: FHWA is 

recognized as a leader in the 

development and promotion of 

innovative solutions that address 

current and emerging transportation 

issues.’’ Item 1.1 is ‘‘Systematically 

identify emerging issues and needs that 

could impact transportation,’’ and item 

1.2 is ‘‘Identify, develop, promote, and 

rapidly implement new and proven 

technologies and innovative solutions to 

improve system performance.’’ These 

‘‘innovative solutions’’ cannot properly 

identify what might work without 

discussing the needs for such things 

with the user groups—the States. 

Likewise, it cannot promote and 

implement them without an appropriate 

understanding of how the user 

organizations—the States—feel about 

the particular innovations; and this can 

only come from a formal survey. 

Respondents: There are 260 

respondents, including 5 each from 50 

State Transportation Departments, the 

District of Columbia, and the 

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 

Frequency: Once a year, for three 

years. 

Estimated Average Burden per 

Response: Each survey will require 15 

minutes to respond. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: 65 hours. 

Public Comments Invited: You are 

asked to comment on any aspect of this 

information collection, including: (1) 

Whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the U.S. 

DOT’s performance, including whether 

the information will have practical 

utility; (2) the accuracy of the U.S. 

DOT’s estimate of the burden of the 

proposed information collection; (3) 

ways to enhance the quality, usefulness, 

and clarity of the collected information; 

and (4) ways that the burden could be 

minimized, including the use of 

electronic technology, without reducing 

the quality of the collected information. 

The agency will summarize and/or 

include your comments in the request 

for OMB’s clearance of this information 

collection. 

Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act 

of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35, as amended; 

and 49 CFR 1.48. 

Issued on: December 29, 2010. 

Cynthia Thornton, 

Acting Chief, Management Programs and 

Analysis Division. 

[FR Doc. 2010–33286 Filed 1–4–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Highway Administration 

[Docket No. FHWA–2010–0177] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Request for Comments for a 

New Information Collection 

AGENCY: Federal Highway 

Administration (FHWA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: The FHWA has forwarded the 

information collection request described 

in this notice to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for 

approval of a new information 

collection. We published a Federal 

Register Notice with a 60-day public 

comment period on this information 

collection on September 7, 2010. We are 

required to publish this notice in the 

Federal Register by the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995. 

DATES: Please submit comments by 

February 4, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: You may send comments 

within 30 days to the Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs, 

Office of Management and Budget, 725 

17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 

20503, Attention DOT Desk Officer. You 

are asked to comment on any aspect of 

this information collection, including: 

(1) Whether the proposed collection is 

necessary for the FHWA’s performance; 

(2) the accuracy of the estimated 

burden; (3) ways for the FHWA to 

enhance the quality, usefulness, and 

clarity of the collected information; and 

(4) ways that the burden could be 

minimized, including the use of 

electronic technology, without reducing 

the quality of the collected information. 

All comments should include the 

Docket number FHWA–2010–0177. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Karen White, (202) 366–9474, Office of 

Innovative Program Delivery. Federal 

Highway Administration, Department of 

Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590. 

Office hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 5 

p.m., Monday through Friday, except 

Federal holidays. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title: Experiments on Driving under 

Uncertain Congestion Conditions and 

the Effects on Traffic Networks from 

Congestion Pricing Initiatives. 

Background: The traditional way of 

financing the transportation system in 

the U.S. is currently being challenged 

and new revenue schemes are being 

evaluated for possible implementation. 

In addition, the growth in traffic volume 

overwhelms the ability to finance 

additional road capacity. Congestion 

pricing is gaining support across the 

world as a way to solve the congestion 

problem and thereby ease the 

congestion cost to the public and at the 

same time generate revenues that can be 

used to fund additional transportation 

capacity. While congestion pricing 

strategies have been implemented in 

several parts of the world, the 

implementation is still relatively limited 

in this country. 

This study will assess the responses 

to several congestion pricing schemes 

by asking volunteer participants to make 

driving choices under these schemes in 

an experiment. The study will present 

participants with a number of choice 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 3 / Wednesday, January 5, 2011 / Notices 623 

situations involving routes that vary in 

road pricing and travel time. Three basic 

types of experiments will be conducted: 

A field experiment using Global 

Positioning System (GPS) trackers; a 

multi-driver traffic simulation 

experiment; and a single driver 

simulator experiment. In addition to 

these experiments, participants will 

answer short demographic 

questionnaires and short surveys of 

their driving habits. 

The initial phase will consist of 

recruiting participants by sending out 

invitation letters to potential 

participants who are drivers on select 

routes in the Miami, Florida; Orlando, 

Florida; and Atlanta, Georgia 

metropolitan areas. Local toll road 

agencies have agreed to collaborate with 

the researchers in this phase. The 

invitation will ask those who are 

interested to complete a survey online. 

This survey is used to filter respondents 

based on how frequently they drive on 

the selected routes. A typical 

respondent will complete this survey in 

30 minutes. Respondents who express 

interest in being part of the experiments 

will be asked to attend four face-to-face 

sessions. There will be a choice of times 

and locations for these sessions so as to 

make it convenient for the participant. 

In these sessions participants will be 

presented with lottery choices, betting 

tasks, and simulator driving tasks, in 

addition to a short questionnaire about 

their demographics and driving habits. 

These tasks are intended to observe 

characteristics in drivers that are 

important to their driving choices when 

roads are congested. The choice tasks, 

questionnaires and simulator driving 

tasks will require 41⁄2 hours of the 

participant’s time, spread over the four 

sessions. In addition, all participants’ 

cars will be outfitted with a GPS device 

that can receive but not send signals, 

allowing us to collect information on 

driving habits. The installation is simple 

and will only take a couple of minutes. 

All driving data will be downloaded 

directly from the device to a computer. 

Sensitive data, such as the home and 

work locations of the drivers, will not be 

downloaded. Approximately two weeks 

will pass between each session; a time 

frame that is determined by the capacity 

of the GPS device’s ability to store data 

of subjects’ travel log. The total time 

required for instructing participants in 

the field driving task, installing the 

device, and downloading all the data 

will be one hour, spread out over the 

four sessions. All of the 1,200 

participants will have their car 

equipped with a GPS while 

participating in the study. However, 

since we partition the study into three 

parts there will be a maximum of 400 

cars that have GPS installed at any time 

in the field experiment. 

During the first two sessions 

participants will be given driving 

simulator tasks, lottery and betting 

tasks, and questionnaires. Participants 

will receive money for driving on the 

routes studied but tolls that vary across 

routes and departure times will be 

subtracted from this money. If a toll 

from the study is applied to a route that 

already has a toll, the existing toll is 

subtracted from the toll charge in the 

study. If the existing toll is higher than 

the toll charge in the study, the 

participant will be paid the difference 

from the study. Some routes will have 

no toll charge. Participants will also 

receive money in a similar manner for 

driving in the simulators, and for the 

non-simulator choice tasks. There will 

also be a fixed compensation for 

attending each of the four sessions, and 

for completing the entire study. 

A total of 1,200 persons will 

participate, divided across the three 

regions. 10 weeks will be needed to 

complete the 4 sessions for each group 

of participants. 100 of these participants 

will be expected to volunteer for an 

additional 10 week field driving period 

for additional monetary compensation. 

The sessions will be timed very 

carefully since the student research 

assistants helping the participants will 

not be available during final exam 

periods and certain breaks. 

Respondents: 1200 participants are 

expected to participate throughout all 

tasks. 

Frequency: In phase 1, a survey will 

be completed via the internet, followed 

by four face-to-face sessions and three 

two-week periods of driving with a GPS 

devise for most participants and twice 

that for a few selected participants. The 

face-to-face sessions will take place 

within a 10-week period. For those who 

are selected to double their participation 

there will be a break before starting the 

second period. 

Estimated Average Burden per 

Response: The online questionnaire will 

require 30 minutes for a typical 

respondent. Two of the face-to-face 

sessions will last two hours each, the 

third session will last one hour, and the 

final session will be completed in thirty 

minutes. This time covers the 41⁄2 hours 

for the simulator tasks, the other choice 

tasks, and questionnaires, and the one 

hour for installing the GPS device, 

instructing participants in the field 

driving task plus downloading the GPS 

data to a computer. The average time 

allocation per participant is therefore 

expected to be 6 hours. For those who 

choose to double their participation 

there will be a need for an additional 

two hours spread across four sessions. 

Estimated Total Burden Hours: 

Approximately 7,600 hours. 

6 hours × 1200 participants = 7200 

2 hours × 200 participants = 400 

Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act 

of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35, as amended; 

and 49 CFR 1.48. 

Issued on: December 29, 2010. 

Cynthia Thornton, 

Acting Chief, Management Programs and 

Analysis Division. 

[FR Doc. 2010–33294 Filed 1–4–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

AFFAIRS 

[OMB Control No. 2900–0455] 

Proposed Information Collection 

(Equal Opportunity Compliance 

Review Report) Activity: Comment 

Request 

AGENCY: Veterans Benefits 

Administration, Department of Veterans 

Affairs. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Veterans Benefits 

Administration (VBA), Department of 

Veterans Affairs (VA), is announcing an 

opportunity for public comment on the 

proposed collection of certain 

information by the agency. Under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 

1995, Federal agencies are required to 

publish notice in the Federal Register 

concerning each proposed collection of 

information, including each proposed 

extension of a currently approved 

collection, and allow 60 days for public 

comment in response to the notice. This 

notice solicits comments for information 

needed to determine whether 

proprietary education institutions 

receiving Federal financial assistance 

comply with the applicable civil rights 

law and regulations. 

DATES: Written comments and 

recommendations on the proposed 

collection of information should be 

received on or before March 7, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments 

on the collection of information through 

Federal Docket Management System 

(FDMS) at http://www.Regulations.gov 

or to Nancy J. Kessinger, Veterans 

Benefits Administration (20M35), 

Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 

Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 

20420 or e-mail to 

nancy.kessinger@va.gov. Please refer to 

‘‘OMB Control No. 2900–0455’’ in any 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES