Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 190 / Friday, September 29, 2000 / Notices 58603

residential uses along SR 1009 and older

retail centers along US 74 with

residential properties located behind the

retail. Further east, development along

US 74 continues to consist of shopping

centers, along with some offices and

residential (mostly apartments) fronting

the highway and residential areas

located behind the strip developments.

SR 1009 passes through office and light

industrial uses located along the CSX

railroad while there are residential areas

east of Idlewild. Near Sardis Road North

and McAlpine Creek, the Crown Point

area contains almost exclusively retail,

some office and some residential

development south of SR 1009.

Adjacent to Crown Point, the Town of

Matthews consists of mostly industrial,

warehouses, residential, some retail, a

hospital, an active compact historic

downtown, and some of the largest

tracts of undeveloped land in the

corridor.

Independence Boulevard (US 74) is

currently a divided four-lane to six-lane

highway within the study area and has

an annual average daily traffic volume

of as many as 107,000 vehicles per day

in the year 1998. This facility

experiences severe congestion and

delays throughout the day and is

considered to be one of the major

transportation problems facing this

rapidly growing region. Currently,

Independence Blvd. is rated as having

very poor mobility with a projected 50

percent increase in traffic volumes for

the year 2020. The thoroughfare plan

calls for the freeway/HOV to be

extended 1.5 miles to Albemarle Road

within the next five years. According to

the State Transportation Improvement

Plan, the freeway and possible HOV

lane may be extended the entire length

of the corridor sometime after 2005.

However, even with these roadway

improvements, a substantial portion of

this facility will still experience severe

congestion by the year 2015.

Future growth projections for the

region estimate a population increase of

57 percent and a 47 percent increase in

employment by the year 2025. Portions

of the Southeast Corridor study area are

among the fastest-growing communities

in the state.

The Charlotte Metropolitan Area has

exceeded the Environmental Protection

Agency’s 1-hour and 8-hour standard for

ozone each of the past three years.

These violations will likely result in the

County being designated as a nonattainment area for ozone, which will be

officially stated by US EPA early next

year. The primary contributor of air

pollutants in the region is mobile

emissions.

III. Alternatives

The alternatives proposed for

evaluation include: (1) No-Build, which

involves no change to transportation

service or facilities in the corridor

beyond already committed projects; (2)

a Transportation System Management

alternative, which consists of low to

medium cost improvements to the

operations of the local bus service, the

Charlotte Area Transit System, in

addition to the currently planned transit

improvements in the corridor; and (3)

multiple ‘‘Build’’ alternatives including

bus rapid transit (BRT) facilities along

the Independence Blvd. corridor and

various modes of rail service including

commuter rail and light rail transit

(LRT) generally following the existing

CSX railroad right-of-way and/or major

arterials within the study corridor. The

‘‘Build’’ alternatives may include

alternative land use scenarios to

evaluate the potential for focusing

development around transit stations.

Additional reasonable alternatives

suggested through the scoping process

may also be considered.

IV. Probable Effects

FTA and the City of Charlotte will

identify potentially significant social,

economic, and environmental impacts

associated with the alternatives

considered in the MIS. The primary

environmental issues to be considered

include potential impacts to air quality,

noise and vibration, historical and

archaeological resources, visual quality,

wetlands, natural areas, rare and

endangered species, water quality and

potential contamination sites. The

primary social and economic impacts

proposed for analysis in the MIS

include potential changes in land use

and future developments, neighborhood

and community resource impacts,

relocations and displacement impacts,

and traffic impacts throughout the

project corridor. In addition, both

beneficial and adverse impacts to

minority and low-income groups will be

evaluated. The impacts will be

evaluated both for the construction

period and for the long-term period of

operation. Potential measures to

mitigate any significant adverse impacts

will be identified.

V. FTA Procedures

In accordance with the federal

transportation planning regulations (23

CFR part 450), the MIS will be prepared

to include an evaluation of the social,

economic, environmental impacts and

benefits of the alternatives. The MIS

will consider the public and agency

comments received. At the conclusion

of the MIS, the Metropolitan Transit

Commission will select the preferred

mode and general alignment alternative

for the Southeast Corridor (the LPA).

Once the LPA has been included in the

Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan

Planning Organization’s adopted longrange transportation plan, this project

and associated alignment, design, and

other options will be further studied in

the Preliminary Engineering/

Environmental Impact Statement (PE/

EIS) phase of project development.

Opportunities for agency and public

involvement will be provided

throughout the MIS and PE/EIS phases.

Dated: September 22, 2000.

Jerry Franklin,

FTA Regional Administrator.

[FR Doc. 00–24862 Filed 9–28–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–57–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration

Environmental Impact Statement for

Transportation Improvements Within

the West Corridor, Charlotte, NC

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration,

DOT.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare an

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

SUMMARY: The Federal Transit

Administration (FTA), the Federal lead

agency, and the City of Charlotte, the

local lead agency, intend to prepare an

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)

in accordance with the National

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for

transportation improvements within the

proposed West Corridor in Mecklenburg

County, North Carolina. The study

corridor of approximately 12 miles

extends from Uptown Charlotte (the

center city) in Mecklenburg County to

the Catawba River that forms the border

between Mecklenburg and Gaston

Counties. There is a possibility that the

corridor may be extended an additional

16 miles to the West, to the City of

Gastonia in Gaston County.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg region is

developing an integrated land use and

supportive transit plan. Building on the

2025 Integrated Transit/ Land Use Plan

for Charlotte-Mecklenburg, four corridor

Major Investment Studies (MISs) are

being prepared for the North, Northeast

(University), Southeast (Independence),

and West (Airport) corridors. A

previously-prepared MIS for the South

Corridor resulted in a light rail transit

project for that corridor.

The EIS will be prepared following

completion of a MIS for the West

58604 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 190 / Friday, September 29, 2000 / Notices

Corridor. The West Corridor MIS will

evaluate the land use, mobility, and

environmental benefits, costs and

impacts of various land use and

transportation alternatives. The MIS

will evaluate the following alternatives:

a No-Build alternative; a Transportation

System Management alternative

consisting of low to medium cost

improvements to the facilities and

operation of local bus services

(Charlotte Area Transit System) in

addition to currently planned transit

improvements in the study corridor; and

multiple ‘‘Build’’ alternatives including

bus rapid transit, various types of rail

transit facilities, and combinations of

these types of transit services, as well as

alternative land use scenarios. (See

Section III. Alternatives for additional

information).

The sequence of events for the

planning and development for this

project include the following major

milestones:

Scoping Process—early opportunity

for public input to the study scope,

including alternatives and issues to be

evaluated.

Major Investment Study (MIS)—

evaluation of proposed improvement

alternatives, early consideration of

environmental factors, concluding with

the selection of a Locally Preferred

Alternative (LPA).

Preliminary Engineering/

Environmental Impact Statement (PE/

EIS)—detailed definition of the LPA,

evaluation of design options, assessment

of potential impacts, development of

mitigation measures, preparation and

circulation of the Draft EIS, public

meetings, and completion of a Final EIS.

Scoping will be accomplished

through correspondence with interested

persons, organizations, and federal,

state, and local agencies, and through

public and agency meetings.

DATES: Comment Due Date: Written

comments on the scope of alternatives

and impacts to be considered should be

sent to Catondra Noye, Project Manager,

Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS),

by October 16, 2000. See ADDRESSES

below. Scoping Meetings:

Public scoping meetings will be held

on:

Monday, September 18, 2000, 6:30 pm

to 9:00 pm; Adams Service Center,

4150 Wilkinson Blvd., Charlotte, NC

Wednesday, September 27, 2000, 6:30

pm—9:00 pm; Charlotte-Mecklenburg

Government Center, 600 E. Fourth St,

Charlotte, NC 28202 (Joint meeting

with all corridors—Center City focus)

Scoping material will be available at

the meeting or in advance of the

meeting by contacting Catondra Noye at

CATS.

An agency scoping meeting will be

held on Wednesday, September 27,

2000, 10 am to 1 pm at the CharlotteMecklenburg Government Center. See

ADDRESSES below.

Scoping is being conducted for three

other related corridors—Northeast

(University), Southeast (Independence),

and North—in the CharlotteMecklenburg region at approximately

the same time with separate public

scoping meetings, as published in

separate Notices of Intent. The agency

scoping meeting for the West Corridor

will be held in conjunction with the

three other corridors to address interrelated issues and coordination.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on the

scope of alternatives and impacts to be

studied should be sent to Catondra

Noye, CATS Project Manager, City of

Charlotte, 600 East Fourth Street,

Charlotte, NC 28202–2858. Public

scoping meetings will be held at the

following locations: Adams Service

Center, 4150 Wilkinson Boulevard,

Charlotte, NC and the CharlotteMecklenburg Government Center, 600

East Fourth St., Charlotte, NC 28202.

See DATES above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms.

Myra Immings, Federal Transit

Administration, Region IV, 61 Forsyth

Street SW, Suite 17T50, Atlanta, GA

30303; Telephone (404) 562–3508.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Scoping

The FTA and the City of Charlotte

invite interested individuals,

organizations, and federal, state and

local agencies to participate in defining

the alternative transit modes and

alignments to be evaluated and

identifying any significant social,

economic, or environmental issues

related to the alternatives. Primary

issues to be considered include the

changes in land uses and future

development as they relate to alternative

transit systems. Specific suggestions

related to additional alternatives to be

examined and issues to be addressed are

welcome and will be considered in the

final scope of the project. Scoping

comments may be made at the scoping

meetings or in writing no later than

October 16, 2000. (see DATES and

ADDRESSES above). During scoping,

comments should focus on identifying

specific social, economic, or

environmental impacts to be evaluated,

and suggesting alternatives that are less

costly or less environmentally damaging

which achieve similar transit objectives.

Comments should focus on the issues

and alternatives for analysis, and not on

a preference for a particular alternative.

An information packet, referred to as

the Scoping Booklet, will be circulated

to all Federal, State, and local agencies

with jurisdiction in the project area.

Scoping materials will be available at

the meeting or in advance of the

meeting by contacting the Charlotte

Area Transit System as indicated above.

If you wish to be placed on the mailing

list to receive further information as the

project continues contact Catondra Noye

at the Charlotte Area Transit System

(see ADDRESSES above).

II. Description of Corridor and Project

Need

The West Corridor project is a direct

outgrowth of prior transit planning

activities for the region. The 2025

Integrated Transit/Land Use Plan for

Charlotte-Mecklenburg, developed in

1998, identified key centers of economic

activity and the five major

transportation corridors in the Charlotte

region. The 2025 Plan calls for

concentrating development along these

corridors and proposes a rapid transit

system as a means to support land use

initiatives to attain this vision in order

to sustain economic growth and protect

citizens’ quality of life. The 2025 Plan

identified the West Corridor as a

priority transit corridor based on current

and future mobility needs, cost

feasibility and potential ridership.

The proposed project corridor extends

approximately 12 miles from Uptown

Charlotte (the center city) in

Mecklenburg County to the Catawba

River that forms the boundary between

Mecklenburg and Gaston Counties. The

corridor is primarily served by I–85,

Wilkinson Boulevard (US 29/74) and

West Boulevard (NC 160) and includes

the Norfolk Southern rail line. From the

West, the corridor passes through less

developed portions of Mecklenburg

County, with some newer residential

located near the future I–485 freeway.

Between I–485 and US 521, the corridor

consists of newer residential

development north of I–85, while the

airport and industrial development is

the primary land use south of I–85. East

of US 521 the corridor consists of older

residential areas with mostly low

income and minority residents. Outside

of the airport area, the corridor does not

contain a great deal of office or other

employment. The corridor also contains

little retail development, with only

some older shopping centers along US

74/29 and NC 27, some of which are

partially or completely vacant.

Interstate 85 is currently a divided

four-lane to six-lane highway within the

study area and has an annual average

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 190 / Friday, September 29, 2000 / Notices 58605

daily traffic volume of as many as

90,000 vehicles per day in 1997. This

facility experiences serious congestion

and delays particularly during peak

travel times and is considered to be a

major transportation problem facing this

rapidly growing region. Based upon

current trends, traffic on I–85 will grow

to over 216,000 vehicles by the year

2015. Currently, I–85 has a level of

service of C or D and there are no

planned or programmed improvements

for I–85 within the West Corridor.

Therefore, a substantial portion of this

facility will still experience severe

congestion by the year 2015.

Future growth projections for the

region estimate a population increase of

57 percent and a 47 percent increase in

employment by the year 2025. Current

and anticipated growth in the Airport

area will further increase demand for

transportation services into, through

and within the corridor.

The Charlotte Metropolitan Area has

exceeded the Environmental Protection

Agency’s 1-hour and 8-hour standard for

ozone each of the past three years.

These violations will likely result in the

County being designated as a nonattainment area for ozone, which will be

officially stated by US EPA early next

year. The primary contributor of air

pollutants in the region is mobile

emissions.

III. Alternatives

The alternatives proposed for

evaluation include: (1) No-Build, which

involves no change to transportation

service or facilities in the corridor

beyond already committed projects; (2)

a Transportation System Management

alternative, which consists of low to

medium cost improvements to the

operations of the local bus service, the

Charlotte Area Transit System, in

addition to the currently planned transit

improvements in the corridor; and (3)

multiple ‘‘Build’’ alternatives including

bus rapid transit (BRT) facilities along

the I–85/Wilkinson Blvd. corridor and

light rail transit (LRT) generally

following the existing Norfolk Southern

railroad right-of-way and/or major

arterials within the study corridor. The

‘‘Build’’ alternatives may include

alternative land use scenarios to

evaluate the potential for focusing

development around transit stations.

Additional reasonable alternatives

suggested through the scoping process

may also be considered.

IV. Probable Effects

FTA and the City of Charlotte will

identify potentially significant social,

economic, and environmental impacts

associated with the alternatives

considered in the MIS. The primary

environmental issues to be considered

include potential impacts to air quality,

noise and vibration, historical and

archaeological resources, visual quality,

wetlands, natural areas, rare and

endangered species, water quality and

potential contamination sites. The

primary social and economic impacts

proposed for analysis in the MIS

include potential changes in land use

and future developments, neighborhood

and community resource impacts,

relocations and displacement impacts,

and traffic impacts throughout the

project corridor. In addition, both

beneficial and adverse impacts to

minority and low-income groups will be

evaluated. The impacts will be

evaluated both for the construction

period and for the long-term period of

operation. Potential measures to

mitigate any significant adverse impacts

will be identified.

V. FTA Procedures

In accordance with the federal

transportation planning regulations (23

CFR part 450), the MIS will be prepared

to include an evaluation of the social,

economic, environmental impacts and

benefits of the alternatives. The MIS

will consider the public and agency

comments received. At the conclusion

of the MIS, the Metropolitan Transit

Commission will select the preferred

mode and general alignment alternative

for the West Corridor (the LPA). Once

the LPA has been included in the

Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan

Planning Organization’s adopted longrange transportation plan, this project

and associated alignment, design, and

other options will be further studied in

the Preliminary Engineering/

Environmental Impact Statement (PE/

EIS) phase of project development.

Opportunities for agency and public

involvement will be provided

throughout the MIS and PE/EIS phases.

Dated: September 22, 2000.

Jerry Franklin,

FTA Regional Administrator.

[FR Doc. 00–24863 Filed 9–28–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–57–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Submission for OMB Review;

Comment Request

September 21, 2000.

The Department of the Treasury has

submitted the following public

information collection requirement(s) to

OMB for review and clearance under the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,

Public Law 104–13. Copies of the

submission(s) may be obtained by

calling the Treasury Bureau Clearance

Officer listed. Comments regarding this

information collection should be

addressed to the OMB reviewer listed

and to the Treasury Department

Clearance Officer, Department of the

Treasury, Room 2110, 1425 New York

Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20220.

DATES: Written comments should be

received on or before October 30, 2000,

to be assured of consideration.

Departmental Offices/Office of Foreign

Assets Control

OMB Number: 1505–0130.

Form Number: None.

Type of Review: Extension.

Title: Iraqi Sanctions Regulations.

Description: United Nations Security

Council Resolution 986 authorizes

certain transactions with Iraq. These

regulations implement that resolution

pursuant to the International Emergency

Economic Powers Act., 50 U.S.C. 1701–

1706 and the United Nations

Participation Act, 22 U.S.C. 287c.

Respondents: Business or other forprofit, Individuals or households, Notfor-profit institutions.

Estimated Number of Respondents:

150.

Estimated Burden Hours Per

Respondent: 1 hour.

Frequency of Response: On occasion.

Estimated Total Reporting Burden:

150 hours.

Clearance Officer: Lois K. Holland

(202) 622–1563, Departmental Offices,

Room 2110, 1425 New York Avenue,

NW., Washington, DC 20220.

OMB Reviewer: Alexander T. Hunt

(202) 395–7860, Office of Management

and Budget, Room 10202, New

Executive Office Building, Washington,

DC 20503.

Lois K. Holland,

Departmental Reports Management Officer.

[FR Doc. 00–24971 Filed 9–28–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4810–25–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Submission for OMB Review;

Comment Request

September 21, 2000.

The Department of the Treasury has

submitted the following public

information collection requirement(s) to

OMB for review and clearance under the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,

Public Law 104–13. Copies of the

submission(s) may be obtained by

calling the Treasury Bureau Clearance

Officer listed. Comments regarding this