APPENDIX C

DETAILED RESPONSES TO

GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENTS
 C-1 

DETAILED RESPONSES TO 

GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENTS 

As described in Chapter 2 of the Final EIS, the general public submitted more than 14,000 

comments regarding the Project during the 30-day comment period and public hearing process 

that followed the September 2017 publication of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Draft 

EIS) for the DC2RVA Project. Most comments came from individuals living, working, or having 

property interests in the Project corridor, particularly within the Town of Ashland, Hanover 

County, and the City of Richmond. In accordance with 40 CFR 1503.4, the Virginia Department 

of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) carefully reviewed each comment, concern, and request 

and compiled them into broad subject matter categories, which generally parallel the chapter 

structure of the Draft and Final EIS documents, for presentation within this appendix: 

 Study Process 

 Purpose and Need 

 Proposed Train Service/ 

Operations/Schedule 

 Public Involvement 

 Other Considerations 

 Evaluation of Alternatives 

 Corridor Options Not Evaluated 

in the Draft EIS 

 Ashland Area Alternatives 

 Richmond Area Alternatives 

 Station Evaluation 

 Funding, Implementation, and 

Construction 

 Environmental Impacts 

 General 

 Traffic/Transportation 

 Right-of-Way/Displacements/ Property 

Values 

 Land Use 

 Community Facilities/Title VI/ 

Environmental Justice 

 Farmland 

 Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities 

 Cultural Resources 

 Natural and Water Resources 

 Noise and Vibration 

 Air Quality 

 Visual / Aesthetics 

 Hazardous Materials 

 Indirect and Cumulative Effects 

 Safety 

This appendix provides detailed responses from DRPT and the Federal Railroad Administration 

(FRA) to address substantive comments within the above topic areas. In general, substantive 

comments are those that question, with reasonable basis, the accuracy of information and 

methodology in the Draft EIS or present new information not considered in the Draft EIS, and 

Appendix C 
TIER II FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT 

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cause changes or revisions in one or more alternative or environmental resource as part of the 

Final EIS. Many individuals commented on topics that did not warrant changes to methodology 

or information provided in the Draft EIS, such as: 

 Suggestion of additional alternatives to consider, most of which were considered but 

dismissed during the 2002 Tier I EIS for the Southeast High Speed Rail (SEHSR) corridor 

between Washington, D.C. and Charlotte, NC, or do not align with the implementing 

actions that were the outcome of the 2002 Tier I EIS and Record of Decision (ROD). 

 Request for detailed information or data that is beyond the scope of an environmental 

document and would be developed during the final design and permitting process. 

 Environmental impact assessments for the Project are based on conceptual 

engineering, which is approximately a 10% design level. Chapter 5 of the Final EIS 

clarifies the use of temporary and permanent impacts on environmental resources. 

Temporary impacts at the conceptual design level are a fixed offset or distance from 

the permanent impact limits; this is an allowance to account for possible construction 

means and methods that may exceed the permanent impact limits. Final design will 

clarify the potential construction means and methods that might be used to eliminate 

or mitigate temporary impacts. 

 Final design and mitigations will occur after Project funding becomes available and 

incremental improvements are scheduled, as explained in Chapter 7 of the Final EIS. 

Notwithstanding, DRPT provided responses to these topics within the detailed responses 

provided in this appendix. DRPT did not provide responses to comments on overall 

position/opinion for or against the Project or preference for or against a specific Build Alternative 

that was evaluated in the Draft EIS. Additionally, DRPT addressed specific property questions 

directly with the property owner, separate from this response document. All comments received 

were considered as part of the selection process for the Preferred Alternative for this Final EIS. 

The comments presented in this appendix convey the substance of the comments made, but 

condense similar comments together into a single topic and do not necessarily quote comments 

from individuals verbatim. The responses include reference to information provided in both the 

Draft and Final EIS, and some responses are the outcome from ongoing analyses and coordination 

that have occurred since the publication of the Draft EIS. DRPT and FRA do not view the public 

comment process as a “vote counting” process but rather one seeking substantive comments that 

benefit the FRA and DRPT in their final decision-making process. The public comment process is 

also an opportunity for the public to inform FRA or DRPT of potential concerns or conditions that 

were not identified during the preparation of the Draft EIS. 

HOW TO USE THIS APPENDIX: 

This general public response appendix is presented in two parts: 

 Appendix C1 lists the questions that DRPT responded to for each of the comment topic 

areas and provides an index to the page number in Appendix C2 where the detailed 

response can be found. The intent of this index is to provide a way to easily browse all 

questions that were asked by the general public and locate its detailed response. 

 Appendix C2 provides the detailed responses to each of the substantive comments within 

the previously-identified topic areas.