[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 220 (Friday, November 14, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61162-61163]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-29924]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Highway Administration


Environmental Impact Statement, Trumbull, Monroe and Newtown, CT

AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT.

ACTION: Revised notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: The FHWA is issuing this Notice to advise the public that an 
Environmental Impact Statement will not be prepared for a proposed 
highway project in Trumbull, Monroe, and Newtown, Connecticut. A notice 
of Intent to prepare an EIS was published in the Federal Register on 
July 25, 1985. Instead, an Environmental Assessment will be prepared.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Donald J. West, Division 
Administrator, Federal Highway Administration, 628-2 Hebron Ave., Suite 
303, Glastonbury, CT 06033-5007, Telephone: (860) 659-6703 extension 
3009; Mr. Edgar Hurle, Director of Environmental Planning, Bureau of 
Policy and Planning, 3800 Berlin Turnpike, P.O. Box 317546, Newington, 
CT 06131-7546, Telephone: (860) 594-2920.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Existing State Route 25 is a major arterial 
from Interstate 95 in Bridgeport, Connecticut to U.S. Route 7 in 
Brookfield, Connecticut. The corridor under study involves the section 
from State Route 111 in Trumbull to Interstate 84 in Newtown. Following 
the Notice of Intent for the preparation of a Draft EIS, project 
scoping and preparation of the document began. Multiple expressway 
alternatives on new alignment were studied, as well as a widening of 
existing Route 25 with a 100 foot right of way for a length of 
approximately 11 miles. A minimal widening of the existing road with a 
75 foot right of way and approximate length of 10 miles was also 
studied. In 1992, a strategic financial plan was developed by the 
Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT). This plan 
reevaluated major transportation project in light of transportation 
needs and financial constraints. Based on this plan, as well as severe 
environmental concerns of the expressway alternatives, the ConnDOT 
decided to narrow the scope of the project to only the widening 
alternative which has the least environmental and socio-economic 
impacts of all previously studied alternatives. No significant impacts 
are foreseen from the limited widening.
    In light of the change of scope of the project, the FHWA and the 
ConnDOT agree that the foreseen impacts of this

[[Page 61163]]

project no longer warrant an EIS. An Environmental Assessment will be 
prepared and processed to fully analyze the proposal.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Number 20.205, 
Highway Planning and Construction. The regulations implementing 
Executive Order 12372 regarding intergovernmental consultation on 
Federal programs and activities apply to this program)

    Authority: 23 U.S.C. 315; 49 CFR 1.48.

    Issued on: October 31, 1997.
Donald J. West,
Division Administrator, Glastonbury, Connecticut.
[FR Doc. 97-29924 Filed 11-13-97; 8:45 am]
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