Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 168 / Tuesday, September 1, 2009 / Notices 45273 

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 (preferably in advance of 

printing), FTA and its grantees will 

distribute only the executive summary 

of the environmental document together 

with a Compact Disc of the complete 

environmental document. A complete 

printed set of the environmental 

document is available for review at the 

grantee’s offices and elsewhere; an 

electronic copy of the complete 

environmental document is also 

available on the grantee’s Web page. 

CTA may seek New Starts funding for 

the proposed project under 49 United 

States Code 5309 and will, therefore, be 

subject to New Starts regulations (49 

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 

611). The New Starts regulations also 

require the submission of certain 

project-justification information to 

support a request to initiate preliminary 

engineering. This information is 

normally developed in conjunction with 

the NEPA process. Pertinent New Starts 

evaluation criteria will be included in 

the EIS. 

The EIS will be prepared in 

accordance with NEPA and its 

implementing regulations issued by the 

Council on Environmental Quality (40 

CFR parts 1500–1508) and with the 

FTA/Federal Highway Administration 

regulations ‘‘Environmental Impact and 

Related Procedures’’ (23 CFR part 771). 

Issued on: August 24, 2009. 

Marisol R. Simon, 

Regional Administrator, Federal Transit 

Administration, Region V. 

[FR Doc. E9–20965 Filed 8–31–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–57–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Transit Administration 

Intent To Prepare an Environmental 

Impact Statement for Proposed Transit 

Improvements to the Yellow Line, Cook 

County, IL 

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration 

(FTA), Department of Transportation. 

ACTION: Notice of Intent to Prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement. 

SUMMARY: The FTA, as the Federal lead 

agency, and the Chicago Transit 

Authority (CTA) intend to prepare an 

environmental impact statement (EIS) 

for the Yellow Line Extension Project in 

Cook County, Illinois. CTA operates the 

rapid transit system in Chicago, Cook 

County, Illinois. The proposed project, 

described more completely within, 

would extend the Yellow Line, a heavy 

rail transit line, to connect the Dempster 

Street Station to Old Orchard Road. The 

purpose of this Notice of Intent is to 

alert interested parties regarding the 

intent to prepare the EIS, to provide 

information on the nature of the 

proposed project and possible 

alternatives and to invite public 

participation in the EIS process. 

DATES: Written comments on the scope 

of the EIS, including the project’s 

purpose and need, the alternatives to be 

considered, the impacts to be evaluated, 

and the methodologies to be used in the 

evaluations should be sent to CTA on or 

before October 27, 2009. See ADDRESSES

below for the address to which written 

public comments may be sent. A public 

scoping meeting to accept comments on 

the scope of the EIS will be held on the 

following date: 

• Wednesday, September 23, 2009; 

6 p.m. to 8 p.m.; at the Oakton 

Community Center, 4701 Oakton Street, 

Skokie, IL 60076. 

The buildings used for the scoping 

meetings are accessible to persons with 

disabilities. Any individual who 

requires special assistance, such as a 

sign language interpreter, to participate 

in the scoping meeting should contact 

Mr. Darud Akbar, Government and 

Community Relations Officer, at 312– 

681–2708 or 

dakbar@transitchicago.com, five days 

prior to the meeting. 

Scoping materials describing the 

project purpose and need and the 

alternatives proposed for analysis will 

be available at the meetings and on the 

CTA Web site http:// 

www.transitchicago.com/YellowEIS. 

Paper copies of the scoping materials 

may also be obtained from Mr. Darud 

Akbar, Government and Community 

Relations Officer, at 312–681–2708 or 

dakbar@transitchicago.com. An 

interagency scoping meeting will be 

held on Thursday, September 24 at 

8 a.m. at CTA Headquarters, in 

Conference Room 2C, 567 W. Lake 

Street, Chicago, IL 60661. 

Representatives of Native American 

tribal governments and of all Federal, 

State, regional and local agencies that 

may have an interest in any aspect of 

the project will be invited to be 

participating or cooperating agencies, as 

appropriate. 

ADDRESSES: Comments will be accepted 

at the public scoping meetings or they 

may be sent to Mr. Jeffrey Busby, 

General Manager, Strategic Planning, 

Chicago Transit Authority, P.O. Box 

7602, Chicago, IL 60680–7602, or via 

e-mail at YellowExtension@transit

chicago.com. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

David Werner, Community Planner, 

Federal Transit Administration, Region 

V, 200 West Adams Street, Suite 320, 

Chicago, IL 60606, phone 312–353– 

3879, e-mail david.werner@dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Scoping 

The FTA and CTA invite all 

interested individuals and 

organizations, public agencies, and 

Native American Tribes to comment on 

the scope of the EIS, including the 

project’s purpose and need, the 

alternatives to be studied, the impacts to 

be evaluated, and the evaluation 

methods to be used. Comments should 

address (1) Alternatives that may better 

achieve the project’s need and purposes 

at less cost or with fewer adverse 

impacts, and (2) any significant 

environmental impacts relating to the 

alternatives. 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) ‘‘scoping’’ (40 CFR 1501.7) has 

specific and fairly limited objectives, 

one of which is to identify the 

significant issues associated with 

alternatives that will be examined in 

detail in the document, while 

simultaneously limiting consideration 

and development of issues that are not 

truly significant. It is in the NEPA 

scoping process that potentially 

significant environmental impacts— 

those that give rise to the need to 

prepare an environmental impact 

statement—should be identified; 

impacts that are deemed not to be 

significant need not be developed 

extensively in the context of the impact 

statement, thereby keeping the 

statement focused on impacts of 

consequence. Transit projects may also 

generate environmental benefits; these 

should be highlighted as well—the 

impact statement process should draw 

attention to positive impacts, not just 

negative impacts. 

Once the scope of the environmental 

study, including significant 

environmental issues to be addressed, is 

settled, an annotated outline of the 

document will be prepared and shared 

with interested agencies and the public. 

The outline serves at least three worthy 

purposes, including (1) Documenting 

the results of the scoping process; (2) 

contributing to the transparency of the 

process; and (3) providing a clear 

roadmap for concise development of the 

environmental document. 

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45274 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 168 / Tuesday, September 1, 2009 / Notices 

Purpose and Need for the Project 

The purpose of the Yellow Line 

Extension project is to improve transit 

accessibility and provide mobility 

options by better utilizing existing 

transportation infrastructure capacity. 

The investment would also support the 

Village of Skokie’s land use plans. 

The need for the project is based on 

the following considerations: There is a 

significant reverse commute to the 

project area that is not well served by 

the current Yellow Line terminal 

location; travelers on the existing 

system must make multiple transfers to 

reach activity and employment centers 

in the project area; and transit 

alternatives will allow a portion of 

study area trips to avoid continued 

growth in project area arterial street and 

expressway congestion. In addition, 

proposed extensions of the CTA Yellow 

Line from its current terminus at 

Dempster Street are part of the Chicago 

region’s long range transportation plan 

developed by the Chicago Metropolitan 

Agency for Planning (CMAP). 

Project Location and Environmental 

Setting 

The proposed heavy rail transit (HRT) 

project area lies about 12 miles north of 

the Chicago Central Area (commonly 

referred to as the ‘‘Loop’’). The limits of 

the project area are Dempster Street on 

the south and Old Orchard Road on the 

north. The project area is bounded by 

Interstate 94 (Edens Expressway) on the 

west and lies within the Village of 

Skokie. The project area is highly 

developed, with significant residential 

(primarily single family), institutional 

facilities (government offices and 

schools), transportation and commercial 

(retail and office) developments. 

The locally preferred alternative 

(LPA) for the proposed Yellow Line 

Extension project was approved by the 

Chicago Transit Board for further study 

in the EIS on August 12, 2009. The 

proposed Yellow Line Extension would 

extend the heavy rail transit line from 

Dempster Street Station, the current 

terminus of the Yellow Line, north 

along the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) 

right-of-way from Dempster Street to the 

vicinity of Old Orchard Road. The 

extension would include 1.6 new route 

miles of rapid transit added to the 

existing Yellow Line, reconfiguration of 

the existing Dempster Street Station, 

and a new station in the vicinity of Old 

Orchard Road with bus access and 

parking facilities. 

Alternatives 

The Yellow Line Extension Final 

Alternatives Analysis Report (2009) 

prepared by CTA identified three 

alternatives for further consideration in 

the EIS. The three alternatives include: 

A No Build Alternative, Transportation 

System Management (TSM) Alternative, 

and the Fixed Guideway Alternative 

(the LPA). 

No Build Alternative: The No Build 

Alternative is defined as the existing 

transportation system, plus any 

committed transportation 

improvements. Committed 

transportation improvements include 

projects that are already in the CMAP 

financially constrained Transportation 

Improvement Program (TIP). The 

Yellow Line project area has a number 

of projects included in the FY 2007— 

2012 TIP. 

There are three intersection 

improvements along Skokie Boulevard 

in the TIP including the intersections of 

Dempster Street, Golf Road and Old 

Orchard Road. Road improvements in 

the TIP that would most affect the 

Yellow Line extension project area are 

the widening of Old Orchard Road from 

Harms Road to Skokie Boulevard and 

the expansion of the northbound Edens 

off-ramp lanes. In addition to a variety 

of resurfacing projects, Dempster Street 

is scheduled to be reconstructed and 

widened to Central Road. 

Bus transit service under the No Build 

Alternative would be focused on the 

preservation of existing services and 

projects. Although outside the project 

area, a significant transit improvement 

included in the No Build Alternative is 

the construction of a Yellow Line 

station at Oakton Street to serve the 

Skokie downtown and surrounding 

developments. All elements of the No 

Build Alternative are included in each 

of the other alternatives. 

Transportation System Management 

(TSM) Alternative: A TSM Alternative is 

proposed because it is required as part 

of the New Starts evaluative process; in 

this case, it does not meet the purposes 

of and need for the proposed project. 

The TSM Alternative is Bus Rapid 

Transit (BRT) that would operate on a 

1.7 mile alignment between the Yellow 

Line Dempster Street Station and 

Westfield Shoppingtown Old Orchard 

Mall via Dempster Street, Niles Center 

Road, Skokie Boulevard, Golf Road, and 

Lavergne Avenue. Proposed BRT service 

would operate in mixed traffic with 

traffic signal priority on the Dempster 

Street, Niles Center Road, Skokie 

Boulevard, and Golf Road portion of the 

route. 

The TSM Alternative would not 

include any intermediate stops. There 

would be no exclusive lanes along any 

portion of the route. The terminal stop 

would be at the existing bus transfer 

station located on the east side of Old 

Orchard Mall. A new park and ride 

facility would be constructed near the 

proposed terminal stop at Old Orchard 

Road. The TSM alternative assumes that 

all bus routes in the study area will 

continue current operations. 

Fixed Guideway Alternative/LPA: The 

proposed LPA would proceed 

northbound on a single track alignment 

within the UPRR right-of-way from 

Dempster Street to the area north of Golf 

Road. Beginning north of Golf Road, the 

alignment curves east, paralleling the 

east side of the Edens Expressway on an 

elevated profile to the proposed 

terminal location on the south side of 

Old Orchard Road. The elevated profile 

eliminates grade crossings between 

Dempster Street and Old Orchard Road. 

The LPA would include a new station 

at Dempster Street to accommodate 

longer length trains and support bidirectional ridership demands. The 

elevated alignment would place the new 

station centered above Dempster Street 

providing enhanced station accessibility 

from the north and south parking areas 

without requiring pedestrians to cross 

Dempster Street. Bus transfer, taxi, 

entrance and parking areas at the 

Dempster Station would be reconfigured 

for the new elevated station. 

The terminal station would be located 

east of the expressway and in the 

northwest portion of the Niles North 

High School (NNHS) property. The 

transit station and associated facilities 

would displace up to 230 parking 

spaces currently in the NNHS lot to the 

north of the campus. These spaces 

would be replaced by a multi-story 

parking structure with dedicated school 

parking (to replace all displaced parking 

spaces) and dedicated commuter 

parking. 

The LPA is 1.6 miles long and would 

not include any intermediate stops. CTA 

and Pace bus services would be rerouted 

to pass through an off-street facility on 

the east side of the rapid transit station 

and continue to the existing bus transfer 

station at Old Orchard Mall. 

No existing residences, businesses, or 

park/recreational areas would have to be 

acquired to accommodate the HRT 

single-track extension between 

Dempster Street and Golf Road. Some 

right-of-way would need to be acquired 

from the Illinois Department of 

Transportation along the Edens 

Expressway and land would need to be 

acquired from the NNHS property. 

Possible Effects 

The purpose of this EIS process is to 

study, in a public setting, the effects of 

the proposed project and its alternatives 

on the quality of the human 

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Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 168 / Tuesday, September 1, 2009 / Notices 45275 

environment. Areas of investigation for 

transit projects generally include, but 

are not limited to: Land use, 

development potential, land acquisition 

and displacements, historic resources, 

visual and aesthetic qualities, air 

quality, noise and vibration, energy use, 

safety and security, and ecosystems, 

including threatened and endangered 

species; investigation may reveal that 

the proposed project will not affect or 

affect substantially many of those areas. 

Measures to avoid, minimize, or 

mitigate any significant adverse impacts 

will be identified. 

FTA Procedures 

The regulations implementing NEPA, 

as well as provisions of the Safe, 

Accountable, Flexible, Efficient 

Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for 

Users (SAFETEA–LU), call for public 

involvement in the EIS process. Section 

6002 of SAFETEA–LU requires that FTA 

and CTA do the following: (1) Extend an 

invitation to other Federal and nonFederal 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 a 

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 nonFederal agencies and Native American 

tribes that may have an interest in the 

proposed project. It is possible that FTA 

and CTA 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 nonFederal 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 and a Coordination Plan for 

public and interagency involvement 

will be developed for the project and 

posted on CTA’s Web site http:// 

www.transitchicago.com/YellowEIS. 

The public involvement program 

includes a full range of activities 

including maintaining the project 

webpage on the CTA Web site and 

outreach to local officials, community 

and civic groups, and the public. 

Specific activities or events for 

involvement will be detailed in the 

project’s public participation plan. 

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 (preferably in advance of 

printing), FTA and its grantees will 

distribute only the executive summary 

of the environmental document together 

with a Compact Disc of the complete 

environmental document. A complete 

printed set of the environmental 

document is available for review at the 

grantee’s offices and elsewhere; an 

electronic copy of the complete 

environmental document is also 

available on the grantee’s Web page. 

CTA may seek New Starts funding for 

the proposed project under 49 United 

States Code 5309 and will, therefore, be 

subject to New Starts regulations (49 

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 

611). The New Starts regulations also 

require the submission of certain 

project-justification information to 

support a request to initiate preliminary 

engineering. This information is 

normally developed in conjunction with 

the NEPA process. Pertinent New Starts 

evaluation criteria will be included in 

the EIS. 

The EIS will be prepared in 

accordance with NEPA and its 

implementing regulations issued by the 

Council on Environmental Quality (40 

CFR parts 1500–1508) and with the 

FTA/Federal Highway Administration 

regulations ‘‘Environmental Impact and 

Related Procedures’’ (23 CFR part 771). 

Issued on August 24, 2009. 

Marisol R. Simon, 

Regional Administrator, Federal Transit 

Administration, Region V. 

[FR Doc. E9–20964 Filed 8–31–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–57–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Highway Administration 

Environmental Impact Statement: 

Orange County, CA 

AGENCY: Federal Highway 

Administration (FHWA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of Intent. 

SUMMARY: The FHWA, on behalf of the 

California Department of Transportation 

(Caltrans), is issuing this notice to 

advise the public that a draft 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

will be prepared for a proposed highway 

project in Orange County, California. 

DATES: The public scoping meetings will 

be held on the following dates: 

(1) Tuesday, September 22, 2009, 6 

PM–8 PM, Fountain Valley. 

(2) Wednesday, September 23, 2009, 6 

PM–8 PM, Huntington Beach. 

(3) Wednesday, September 30, 2009, 6 

PM–8 PM, Westminster. 

(4) Thursday, October 01, 2009, 6 

PM–8 PM, Rossmoor. 

The final day to submit comments is 

October 8, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: The four public scoping 

meetings will be held at the following 

locations. 

(1) Fountain Valley Senior and 

Community Center, 17967 Bushard St., 

Fountain Valley, CA 92708. 

(2) Huntington Beach Library, 7111 

Talbert Avenue, Huntington Beach, CA 

92648. 

(3) Westminster Community Center— 

A/B Room, 8200 Westminster Avenue, 

Westminster, CA 92683. 

(4) Rush Park Auditorium, 3021 

Blume Drive, Rossmoor, CA 90720. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Smita Deshpande, Branch Chief, 

Caltrans-District 12, ‘‘Attn: 405 

Scoping,’’ 2201 Dupont Drive, Suite 

200, Irvine, CA 92612; Tel: 

949.724.2000. 

405scoping.parsons@parsons.com. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Effective 

July 1, 2007, the Federal Highway 

Administration (FHWA) assigned, and 

the California Department of 

Transportation (Caltrans) assumed, 

environmental responsibilities for this 

project pursuant to 23 U.S.C. 327. 

Caltrans, as the delegated National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 

agency, in cooperation with the Orange 

County Transportation Authority 

(OCTA), will prepare an environmental 

impact statement (EIS) on a proposal for 

a highway improvement project in 

Orange County, California. The 

proposed project covers approximately 

14 miles and is located between State 

Route (SR) 73 and Interstate 605 (I–605) 

on Interstate 405 (I–405). The purpose of 

the project, as currently defined, is to 

increase capacity, improve traffic and 

interchange operations, and enhance 

safety on I–405 between SR–73 and I– 

605. Currently, the following 

alternatives are being considered: 

• Baseline/No Build Alternative; 

taking no action. 

mstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with NOTICES