65168 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 215 / Tuesday, November 7, 2006 / Notices 

Highway Administration, Department of 

Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, 

SW., Washington, DC, 20590. Office 

hours are from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., 

Monday through Friday, except Federal 

holidays. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title: State Right-of-Way Operations 

Manuals. 

OMB Control Number: 2125–0586. 

Background: Section 23, of the Code 

of Federal Regulations Part 710, reduces 

Federal regulatory requirements and 

places primary responsibility for a 

number of approval actions at the State 

level. Part 710.201 requires that States 

must certify at 5-year intervals that their 

State Right-of-Way Operations Manuals 

are representative of their procedures, or 

submit an updated manual. STDs are 

required to update their manuals to 

reflect changes in Federal requirements 

for programs administered under Title 

23 U.S.C. These manuals reflect how the 

STD plans to perform real estate 

acquisition and property management, 

and maintain the integrity of the rightof-way for highway and related 

transportation systems. The State 

manuals may be submitted to FHWA 

electronically or they can be made 

available by postings on State Web sites. 

Respondents: 50 State Departments of 

Transportation, the District of Columbia 

and Puerto Rico. 

Frequency: The States update their 

operations manuals for review annually. 

Estimated Average Burden per 

Response: 75 hours per respondent. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: The total is 3,900 burden hours 

annually. 

Public Comments Invited: 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. 

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: November 1, 2006. 

James R. Kabel, 

Chief, Management Programs and Analysis 

Division. 

[FR Doc. E6–18700 Filed 11–6–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Highway Administration 

Environmental Impact Statement: St. 

Clair County, Michigan 

AGENCY: Federal Highway 

Administration (FHWA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of Intent. 

SUMMARY: The FHWA is reissuing this 

notice to advise the public of changes to 

the Environmental Impact Statement 

that will be prepared for proposed 

improvements to the United States Port 

of Entry Plaza for the Blue Water Bridge 

in St. Clair County, Michigan. This 

Notice revises the published Notice of 

Intent of January 12, 2005. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

James Kirschensteiner, Assistant 

Division Administrator, Federal 

Highway Administration, 315 W. 

Allegan Street, Room 201, Lansing, 

Michigan 48933, Telephone: (517) 702–

1835; or Mr. Paul McAllister, 

Supervisor, Environmental Section, 

Bureau of Transportation Planning, 

Michigan Department of Transportation, 

P.O. Box 30050, Lansing, MI 48909, 

Telephone: (517) 335–2622. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

FHWA in cooperation with the 

Michigan Department of Transportation 

(MDOT) is preparing an Environmental 

Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate 

alternatives for potential improvements 

to the United States Border Plaza at the 

Blue Water Bridge. The Federal 

cooperating agencies for the project 

include: U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. General 

Service Administration (GSA), U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency 

(U.S.EPA), U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers, and U.S. Customs and Border 

Protection (CBP). 

The Blue Water Bridge is a major 

passenger and commercial border 

crossing between the United States and 

Canada and is the northern termination 

point for Interstate Routes I–69 and I–

94 in the United States and for Highway 

402 in Canada. MDOT owns and 

operates the Blue Water Bridge Border 

Plaza. Several agencies operate on the 

United States Plaza. These agencies are 

responsible for inspecting vehicles, 

goods, and people entering the United 

States and include: CBP, the United 

States Department of Agriculture 

(USDA), and the Food and Drug 

Administration (FDA). The inspection 

agencies lease facilities on the United 

States Plaza from MDOT through GSA, 

which serves as the Federal leasing 

agent. MDOT collects tolls from vehicles 

departing the United States for Canada 

on the plaza. 

The study area is located within the 

City of Port Huron and Port Huron 

Township. The study area consists of 

approximately 30 blocks (195 acres) of 

urban land use surrounding the existing 

plaza and ramps, and it extends to the 

west along I–69/I–94 for approximately 

2.2 miles. The study area includes the 

existing plaza, the Black River Bridge, 

the Water Street interchange, and 

locations for off-site inspection 

facilities, located north of I–69/I–94 and 

west of the Water Street Interchange. 

In September 2002, this project 

started as an Environmental Assessment 

(EA) and has proceeded through the 

scoping phase, purpose and need 

documentation, and alternatives 

development. Three resource agency 

meetings and four public information 

meetings have been held. As a result of 

identified potentially significant 

impacts, FHWA and MDOT concluded 

that an environmental Impact Statement 

(EIS) should be completed. 

The purposes of this Environmental 

Impact Statement are to: 

• Accommodate projected 2030 traffic 

growth and potential future facility 

needs, 

• Minimize backups on Highway 402 

and I–69/I–94 and correct existing 

traffic weaving issues, 

• Accommodate the latest inspection 

technologies and procedures, 

• Provide flexibility to accommodate 

future unknown inspection technologies 

and procedures, 

• Improve border security, 

• Provide facilities that ensure cars 

and trucks do not leave the plaza 

without being inspected, 

• Improve safety on the bridge, plaza, 

and I–69/I–94, 

• Reduce vehicle and pedestrian 

conflicts on the plaza, 

• Improve access between the plaza 

and the Port Huron area, and 

• Minimize routing of commercial 

traffic to local roads during maintenance 

operations. 

The need for improvements to the 

United States Plaza at the Blue Water 

Bridge is supported by several key 

issues including: 

• Traffic growth and repeated traffic 

backups, 

• Insufficient truck parking for 

inspection purposes, 

• The introduction of new inspection 

technology, 

• Emerging Security issues, 

• Insufficient space for the increased 

number of border inspection agents, 

• Traffic conflicts and crash history, 

and 

• Inadequate connections between 

the plaza and local roads needing 

improvements. 


ycherry on PROD1PC64 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 215 / Tuesday, November 7, 2006 / Notices 65169 

In the fall of 2005, a preliminary Draft 

Environment Impact Statement (DEIS) 

was completed and circulated to the 

Federal cooperating agencies for review 

and comment. As a result of this 

coordination effort, the CBP requested 

that another alternative be considered 

for evaluation and inclusion in the 

DEIS. 

In an effort to continue to move 

independent and critical road and 

bridge portions of the project forward, 

MDOT and FHWA have separated the 

Blue Water Bridge Plaza Study into two 

projects: (a) An EIS for the Blue Water 

Bridge Plaza that will focus specifically 

on plaza expansion and improvements, 

and (b) An Environmental Assessment 

that will address transportation 

improvements along I–69/I–94 and the 

creation of a new off-site welcome 

center. The improvements covered in 

the EA are independent of any of the 

alternatives under consideration for the 

plaza improvements. The FHWA has 

reviewed and concluded that the 

improvements that will be studied in 

the EA have independent utility and 

logical termini 

The purposes of the I–69/I–94 EA 

Corridor improvements are: 

• Accommodate projected 2030 traffic 

growth, 

• Improve the safety on the Black 

River Bridge and reduce weaving 

movements at the Water Street 

Interchange, 

• Replace the aging Black River 

Bridge spans, 

• Improve vehicle access to the Port 

Huron Area, and 

• Create a more visible and accessible 

Welcome Center. 

The need for improvements to the I–

69/I–94 Corridor is supported by several 

key issues: 

• Traffic growth, 

• Traffic backups, 

• Traffic conflicts and crash history, 

• The current condition of existing 

roadways in the corridor, and 

• The current condition of the Black 

River Bridge. 

The study boundaries for the I–69/I–

94 Environmental Assessment are 

located along I–69/I–94 and the M–25 

connector. The northern terminus for 

the EA is the M–25 connector 

intersection with Hancock Street and 

the southern terminus is the I–69/I–94 

bridge over Lapeer Road. The EA study 

area includes the I–69/I–94 ramps to 

and from the existing plaza, the Black 

River Bridge, the Water Street 

interchange and the Lapeer connector 

interchange. 

The purpose and need and study 

boundaries for the plaza Environmental 

Impact Statement remain the same as 

described earlier. The study area 

includes a potential location for a 

relocated plaza in Port Huron 

Township. 

A range of plaza and transportation 

improvement alternatives for the plaza 

EIS, will be analyzed. Reasonable 

alternatives under consideration 

include: taking no action, expanding the 

existing plaza location in the City of 

Port Huron (two alternatives), and 

relocating the major plaza functions to 

an off-site plaza location in Port Huron 

Township. The EIS study area for the 

off-site plaza, along with subsequent 

improvements to I–94/I–69 and the EA 

improvements to I–94/I–69, overlap for 

this alternative, but only for this 

alternative. 

Agencies and citizen involvement 

will continue to be solicited throughout 

this process. A public meeting and a 

public hearing will be held on the Draft 

Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). 

Public notice will be given of the time 

and place of the hearing. The DEIS will 

be available for public and agency 

review and comment prior to the public 

hearing. 

To ensure that the full range of issues 

related to this proposed action are 

addressed and all significant issues 

identified, comments and suggestions 

are invited from all interested parties. 

Comments or questions concerning this 

proposed action and the EIS should be 

directed to the FHWA at the address 

provided above. 

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Program Number 20.205, Highway Planning 

and Construction. The regulations 

implementing Executive Order 12372 

regarding intergovernmental consultation of 

Federal programs and activities apply to this 

program.) 

Issued on: October 31, 2006. 

James A. Kirschensteiner, 

Assistant Division Administrator, Lansing, 

Michigan. 

[FR Doc. 06–9099 Filed 11–6–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–22–M 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration 

Sunshine Act Meetings; Unified Carrier 

Registration Plan Board of Directors 

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration, DOT. 

TIME AND DATE: November 7, 2006, 1 

p.m. to 5 p.m. and November 8, 2006 8 

a.m. to 12 p.m. 

PLACE: Hilton Chicago O’Hare Airport, 

O’Hare International Airport, Chicago, 

IL 60666. 

STATUS: Open to the public. 

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: An 

overview of the Unified Carrier 

Registration Plan and Agreement 

requirements set forth under section 

4305 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, 

Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A 

Legacy for Users, and the administrative 

functioning of the Board. In addition, 

the Board will continue its work in 

developing the Unified Carrier 

Registration Agreement procedures and 

toward recommending UCRA fees to the 

Secretary. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

William Quade, (202)366–2172, 

Director, Office of Safety Programs, 

Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration, or Mr. Bryan Price, 

(412) 395–4816, FMCSA Pennsylvania 

Division Office. 

Dated: November 2, 2006. 

Rose A. McMurray, 

Associate Administrator, Policy and Program 

Development. 

[FR Doc. 06–9124 Filed 11–3–06; 2:23 pm] 

BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Railroad Administration 

Creation of an Electronic Docket for a 

Pending Environmental Impact Review 

on the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern 

Railroad’s Powder River Basin 

Expansion Project Railroad 

Rehabilitation and Improvement 

Financing Program Loan Application 

AGENCY: Federal Railroad 

Administration (FRA), Department of 

Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Notice of the Creation of an 

Electronic Docket for the Comments 

Received on the FRA’s Adoption of the 

Environmental Impact Statements 

Issued by the Surface Transportation 

Board and FRA’s Draft Section 4(f)/303 

Statement and Participation as a 

Concurring Party to a Section 106 

Programmatic Agreement. 

SUMMARY: FRA is announcing the 

creation of an electronic docket 

containing comments submitted to the 

agency in connection with the agency’s 

environmental and historic preservation 

review of the Dakota, Minnesota and 

Eastern Railroad’s application for loan 

to carry out its Powder River Basin 

Expansion Project. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

David Valenstein, Environmental 

Program Manager, 1120 Vermont 

Avenue, NW., Mail Stop 20, 

Washington, DC 20590; Phone (202) 

493–6368. 


ycherry on PROD1PC64 with NOTICES