45270 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 168 / Tuesday, September 1, 2009 / Notices 

State websites to give respondents the 

opportunity to fill the form out online 

or print out the form and fill it out 

manually and submit the form in person 

or by fax or mail. 

Dated: July 10, 2009. 

Mary Ellen Hickey, 

Managing Director, Bureau of Consular 

Affairs, Department of State. 

[FR Doc. E9–21088 Filed 8–31–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4710–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF STATE 

[Public Notice 6747] 

Culturally Significant Object Imported 

for Exhibition Determinations: ‘‘Luc 

Tuymans’’ 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the 

following determinations: Pursuant to 

the authority vested in me by the Act of 

October 19, 1965 (79 Stat. 985; 22 U.S.C. 

2459), Executive Order 12047 of March 

27, 1978, the Foreign Affairs Reform and 

Restructuring Act of 1998 (112 Stat. 

2681, et seq.; 22 U.S.C. 6501 note, et 

seq.), Delegation of Authority No. 234 of 

October 1, 1999, Delegation of Authority 

No. 236 of October 19, 1999, as 

amended, and Delegation of Authority 

No. 257 of April 15, 2003 [68 FR 19875], 

I hereby determine that the object in the 

exhibition: ‘‘Luc Tuymans,’’ imported 

from abroad for temporary exhibition 

within the United States, is of cultural 

significance. The object is imported 

pursuant to a loan agreement with the 

foreign owner or custodian. I also 

determine that the exhibition or display 

of the exhibit object at the Wexner 

Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH, from 

on or about September 20, 2009, until 

on or about January 3, 2010; San 

Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San 

Francisco, CA, from on or about 

February 13, 2010, until on or about 

May 16, 2010; Dallas Museum of Art, 

Dallas, TX, from on or about June 13, 

2010, until on or about September 6, 

2010; Museum of Contemporary Art, 

Chicago, IL, from on or about October 2, 

2010, until on or about January 9, 2011, 

and at possible additional exhibitions or 

venues yet to be determined, is in the 

national interest. Public Notice of these 

Determinations is ordered to be 

published in the Federal Register. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information, including a list of 

the exhibit object, contact Julie 

Simpson, Attorney-Adviser, Office of 

the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of 

State (telephone: 202–632–6467). The 

address is U.S. Department of State, 

L/PD, SA–5, 2200 C Street, NW., Suite 

5H03, Washington, DC 20522–0505. 

Dated: August 25, 2009 

Maura M. Pally, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Professional 

and Cultural Exchanges, Bureau of 

Educational and Cultural Affairs, Department 

of State. 

[FR Doc. E9–21086 Filed 8–31–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4710–05–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Railroad Administration 

[Docket No. FRA–1999–6439, Notice No. 20] 

Adjustment of Nationwide Significant 

Risk Threshold 

AGENCY: Federal Railroad 

Administration (FRA), Department of 

Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Notice of Adjustment of 

Nationwide Significant Risk Threshold. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with Appendix 

D to Title 49 Code of Federal 

Regulations (CFR) part 222, Use of 

Locomotive Horns at Highway-Rail 

Grade Crossings, FRA is updating the 

Nationwide Significant Risk Threshold 

(NSRT). This action is needed to ensure 

that the public has the proper threshold 

of permissible risk for calculating quiet 

zones established in relationship to the 

NSRT. This is the third update to the 

NSRT, which is being increased to 

18,775 from 17,610. 

DATES: The effective date is September 

1, 2009. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Ronald Ries, Office of Railroad Safety, 

FRA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 

Washington, DC 20590 

(telephone: 202–493–6299 or e-mail: 

Ronald.Ries@dot.gov); or Kathryn 

Shelton, Office of Chief Counsel, FRA, 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 

Washington, DC 20590 

(telephone: 202–493–6038 or e-mail: 

Kathryn.Shelton@dot.gov). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The NSRT is simply an average of the 

risk indexes for gated public crossings, 

nationwide, where train horns are 

routinely sounded. FRA developed this 

risk index to serve as one threshold of 

permissible risk for quiet zones 

established under this rule across the 

Nation. Thus, a community that is 

trying to establish and/or maintain its 

quiet zone pursuant to 49 CFR part 222 

can compare the Quiet Zone Risk Index 

calculated for its specific crossing 

corridor to the NSRT to determine 

whether sufficient measures have been 

taken to compensate for the excess risk 

that results from prohibiting routine 

sounding of the locomotive horn. 

(Alternatively, a community can 

establish its quiet zone in comparison to 

the Risk Index With Horns, which is a 

corridor-specific measure of risk to the 

motoring public, when locomotive 

horns are routinely sounded at every 

public highway-rail grade crossing 

within the quiet zone.) 

In 2006, when the final rule titled, 

‘‘Use of Locomotive Horns at HighwayRail Grade Crossings,’’ was amended, 

the NSRT was 17,030 (71 FR 47614, 

Aug. 17, 2006). In 2007, FRA 

recalculated the NSRT to be 19,047 (72 

FR 14850, Mar. 29, 2007). In 2008, FRA 

recalculated the NSRT to be 17,610 (73 

FR 30661, May 28, 2008). 

New NSRT 

Using collision data from 2004 to 

2008, FRA has recalculated the NSRT 

based on formulas identified in 

Appendix D to 49 CFR part 222. In 

making this recalculation, FRA noted 

that the total number of gated, nonwhistle-ban crossings was 39,065. 

Fatality Fatalities

Fatal

Injur

 Rate

 Incidents = = = 287

358

1 2474 .

y Injuries

Injury

 Rate in Injury-Only Incidents

-Only Incid = ents = = 708

1008

1 4237 .

Applying the fatality rate and injury 

rate to the probable number of fatalities 

and casualties predicted to occur at each 

of the 39,065 identified crossings and 

the predicted cost of the associated 

injuries and fatalities, FRA calculates 

the NSRT to be 18,775. 


mstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with NOTICESEN01SE09.000</MATH>
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 168 / Tuesday, September 1, 2009 / Notices 45271 

Issued in Washington, DC, on August 25, 

2009. 

Jo Strang, 

Associate Administrator for Railroad Safety/ 

Chief Safety Officer. 

[FR Doc. E9–20966 Filed 8–31–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Transit Administration 

Intent to Prepare an Environmental 

Impact Statement for Proposed Transit 

Improvements to the Orange 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 Orange 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 Orange Line, a heavy 

rail transit line, to connect Midway 

Station at the Midway International 

Airport to the Ford City shopping 

center. The purpose of this Notice of 

Intent is to alert interested parties 

regarding the intent to prepare the EIS 

and to provide information on the 

nature of the proposed project and 

possible alternatives 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: 

• Monday, September 21, 2009; 6 

p.m. to 8 p.m.; at the Hancock College 

Preparatory High School, 4034 W. 56th 

St., Chicago, IL 60629. 

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/OrangeEIS. 

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 1:30 

p.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 OrangeExtension@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. 

Purpose and Need for the Project 

The purpose of the Orange Line 

Extension project is to improve access to 

the existing Orange Line for southwest 

side and southwest suburban residents 

and businesses, support the area’s 

ongoing economic development efforts, 

and strengthen the competiveness of 

transit in the reverse commute market. 

The need for the project is based on 

the following considerations: access to 

the Orange Line is currently constrained 

by limited parking availability; access to 

the Orange Line by bus or auto is 

unreliable due to congestion 

approaching the existing terminal 

station; and few uncongested roadways 

are available to access the current 

Orange Line terminal because of wider 

than usual arterial street spacing, which 

limits mobility for residents and 

businesses. 

Project Location and Environmental 

Setting 

The proposed heavy rail transit (HRT) 

project area lies about 10 miles 

southwest of the Chicago Central Area 

(commonly referred to as the ‘‘Loop’’). 

The limits of the project area are 59th 

Street on the north and 79th Street on 

the south. Midway International Airport 

is located in the northwestern portion of 

the project area. 

The project area includes parts of the 

community areas of Ashburn, Clearing, 

and West Lawn within the City of 

Chicago, and is adjacent to the Village 

of Bedford Park and the City of Burbank. 

The project area is highly developed, 

with significant residential (primarily 

single family), industrial, transportation 

mstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with NOTICES