[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 190 (Friday, September 29, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58599-58601]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-24861]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration


Environmental Impact Statement for Transportation Improvements 
Within the Northeast (University) Corridor, Charlotte, NC

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS).

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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 Northeast Corridor in Mecklenburg 
County, North Carolina. The study corridor of approximately 14 miles 
extends from Uptown Charlotte (the center city) in Mecklenburg County 
to the Concord Mills area near the Mecklenburg-Cabarrus County line.
    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 
Northeast Corridor. The Northeast 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

[[Page 58600]]

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 Kelly R. Goforth, 
Project Manager, Charlotte Area Transit System, by October 16, 2000. 
See ADDRESSES below. Scoping Meetings: Public scoping meetings will be 
held on:

Tuesday, September 26, 2000, 6:30 pm-9:00 pm: Mallard Creek 
Presbyterian Church, 1600 Mallard Creek Church Rd, Charlotte, NC 28262
Wednesday, September 27, 2000, 6:30 pm-9:00 pm: Charlotte-Mecklenburg 
Government Center, 600 East Fourth St, Charlotte, NC 28202 (Joint 
meeting with all corridors--Center City focus)
Thursday, September 28, 2000, 6:30 pm-9:00 pm: Sugaw Creek Recreation 
Center, 939 West Sugar Creek Road, Charlotte, NC 28213 (Joint meeting 
with North corridor)
    Scoping materials will be available at the meeting or in advance of 
the meeting by contacting CATS. See ADDRESSES below.
    An agency scoping meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 27, 
2000, 10 am to 1 pm, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center. See 
ADDRESSES below.
    Scoping is being conducted for three other related corridors--
North, Southeast (Independence), and West (Airport)--in the Charlotte-
Mecklenburg region at approximately the same time with separate public 
scoping meetings, as published in separate Notices of Intent. The 
agency scoping meeting for the Northeast Corridor will be held in 
conjunction with the three other corridors to address inter-related 
issues and coordination.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on the scope of alternatives and impacts to 
be studied should be sent to Kelly R. Goforth, Project Manager, 
Charlotte Area Transit System, 600 East Fourth Street, Charlotte, NC 
28202-2858. Public scoping meetings will be held at the following 
locations: Mallard Creek Presbyterian Church, 1600 Mallard Creek Church 
Rd, Charlotte, NC 28262; Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center, 600 
E. Fourth St, Charlotte, NC 28202; Sugaw Creek Recreation Center, 939 
West Sugar Creek Road, Charlotte, NC 28213. See DATES above. An agency 
scoping meeting will be held at the Charlotte Mecklenburg 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 Kelly 
Goforth at the Charlotte Area Transit System (see ADDRESSES above).

II. Description of Corridor and Project Need

    The Northeast 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 Northeast 
Corridor as a high-priority transit corridor based on current and 
future mobility needs, cost feasibility and potential ridership.
    The proposed project corridor extends approximately 14 miles from 
Uptown Charlotte (the center city) in Mecklenburg County to the Concord 
Mills area near the Mecklenburg--Cabarrus County line. The project 
study corridor generally follows the Interstate 85 (I-85) corridor 
which runs in a northeasterly direction from the center city of 
Charlotte and encompasses major arterials that parallel I-85 including 
US 29 and NC 49. Land uses in the study corridor are characterized by 
higher density office and commercial development at the southernmost 
portion of the corridor located in the center city; the central portion 
of the corridor has a mixture of uses including commercial, light 
industrial, warehousing, and manufacturing uses with some scattered 
low-density residential; and the northeastern portion of the corridor 
has a mixture of low-density commercial, institutional/business park, 
and residential developments, with pockets of medium-density 
residential. Major destinations in the corridor include the University 
of North Carolina at Charlotte, the University Research Park, and 
Blockbuster Pavilion.

[[Page 58601]]

    Interstate 85 is currently a four-lane controlled-access freeway 
north of the US-29/49 Connector with an average daily traffic (ADT) 
volume of 60,000 vehicles per day (vpd). From the US-29/49 Connector 
into the Center City of Charlotte, I-85 is an eight-lane facility with 
an ADT of 102,000 vpd. This facility experiences severe congestion and 
delays particularly during the peak travel times and is considered one 
of the major transportation problems facing the northeast part of the 
Charlotte region and Cabarrus County. Currently, I-85 is rated as 
having very poor mobility (level of service F in many sections during 
peak periods). Future traffic volumes are projected to increase by 
nearly 200% by the year 2020, with the segment of I-85 between I-485 
and Speedway Boulevard having a projected ADT of 140,000 vpd. The North 
Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) has programmed the 
section of I-85 between the US-29/49 and Speedway Boulevard to be 
widened to an eight-lane facility, scheduled to begin construction in 
2004. Widening alternatives are currently being evaluated for the 
section between Speedway Boulevard and US-601 in the City of Concord. 
However, even with these roadway improvements, a substantial portion of 
this corridor will still experience peak period congestion.
    Future growth projections for the region estimate a population 
increase of 57 percent and a 47 percent increase in employment by the 
year 2025. 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 non-attainment 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 corridor 
and other major roadways in this vicinity, and various modes of rail 
service including commuter rail 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 Northeast Corridor (the LPA). Once the LPA has been 
included in the Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan Planning Organization's 
adopted long-range 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. 00-24861 Filed 9-28-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-57-P