Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 190 / Friday, September 29, 2000 / Notices 58597

members of the public may present oral

statements at the meeting. Persons

wishing to present statements or obtain

information should contact the RTCA

Secretariat, 1140 Connecticut Avenue,

NW., Suite 1020, Washington, DC,

20036; (202) 833–9339 (phone); (202)

833–9434 (fax); or the on-site contact,

Sue Whitehead, at +44–1684–894792

(phone) or Suew@atc.dera.gov.uk

(email). Members of the public may

present a written statement to the

committee at any time.

Issued in Washington, DC, on September

22, 2000.

Janice L. Peters,

Designated Official.

[FR Doc. 00–25076 Filed 9–28–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–13–M

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration

Petitions for Waivers of Compliance

In accordance with Title 49 Code of

Federal Regulations (CFR) § 211.41, and

49 U.S.C. 20103, notice is hereby given

that the Federal Railroad

Administration (FRA) has received a

request for waiver of compliance with

certain requirements of the Federal

railroad safety regulations. The

individual petition is described below,

including the party seeking relief, the

regulatory and statutory provisions

involved, and the nature of the relief

being sought.

San Diego Trolley, Inc. (‘‘SDTI’’)

FRA Waiver Petition No. FRA–2000–7137

San Diego Trolley, Inc. (SDTI), a

wholly owned subsidiary of the

Metropolitan Transit Development

Board, seeks a permanent waiver of

compliance from certain CFR parts of

Title 49, specifically: part 217, Railroad

Operating Rules; part 218, Railroad

Operating Practices; part 219, Control of

Alcohol and Drug Use; part 220,

Railroad Communications; part 221,

Rear End Marking Devices; part 223,

Safety Gazing Standards—Locomotives,

Passenger Cars and Cabooses; part 225,

Railroad Accidents/Incidents—Report

Classification, and Investigations; part

229, Railroad Locomotive Safety

Standards; part 231, Railroad Safety

Appliance Standards; part 238,

Passenger Equipment Safety Standards;

part 239, Passenger Train Emergency

Preparedness; and part 240,

Qualification and Certification of

Locomotive Engineers, as well as the

statutory requirements of 49 U.S.C.

chapter 211 pertaining to hours of

service (see 49 U.S.C. 21108).

SDTI has also petitioned for

grandfathering approval to operate its

equipment under 49 CFR 238.203.

Notice of this petition has already been

published in the Federal Register at 65

FR 25023 (April 28, 2000).

SDTI was created as a wholly-owned

subsidiary by the Metropolitan Transit

Development Board (‘‘MTDB’’) in

August 1980 to operate and maintain a

Light Rail Transit (‘‘LRT’’) system. The

SDTI System covers an area of

approximately 46.4 route miles.

Patronage on the SDTI System presently

is over 75,000 passengers on an average

weekday.

SDTI seeks approval of shared track

usage and waiver of certain FRA

regulations involving light rail

passenger operations with freight trains.

SDTI also requests approval of a pilot

project under which certain hours of

service requirements would be waived.

FRA has jurisdiction over a portion of

the SDTI because it is connected to the

general railroad system of

transportation. Specifically, certain

portions of the SDTI rail lines are used

for freight rail carrier service. The

freight operator, San Diego & Imperial

Valley Railroad (‘‘SD&IV’’), conducts

operations on the SDTI under temporal

separation. (SDTI has recently amended

its petition (1999–7137–8) to include a

proposed amendment to its Standard

Operating Procedure that would permit

certain limited joint operations during

the early morning period with light rail

and freight movements on separate, but

adjacent tracks.) The SD&IV operates at

night on the rail line between San Diego

and El Cajon, CA (approximately 18

miles) and between San Diego and San

Ysidro, CA the southern terminal of the

SDTI system (approximately 14 miles).

See ‘‘Statement of Agency Policy

Concerning Jurisdiction Over the Safety

of Railroad Passenger Operations and

Waivers Related to Shared Use of the

Tracks of the General Railroad System

by Light Rail and Conventional

Equipment’’ at 65 FR 42529 (July 10,

2000); see also ‘‘Joint Statement of

Agency Policy Concerning Shared Use

of the Tracks of the General Railroad

System by Conventional Railroads and

Light Rail Transit Systems’’ at 65 FR

42626 (July 10, 2000).

Since FRA has not yet concluded its

investigation of the SDTI’s petition, the

agency takes no position at this time on

the merits of SDTI’s stated justifications.

As part of FRA’s review of the petition,

the Federal Transit Administration will

appoint a representative to advise FRA’s

Safety Board, and that person will

participate in the board’s consideration

of MTA’s waiver petition.

All communications concerning these

proceedings should identify the

appropriate docket number (Docket

Number FRA–2000–7137) and must be

submitted to the DOT Docket

Management Facility, Room PL–401

(Plaza level), 400 Seventh Street, SW.,

Washington, DC 20590. All documents

in the public docket, including SDTI’s

detailed waiver request, are also

available for inspection and copying on

the Internet at the docket facility’s Web

site at http://dms.dot.gov.

Communications received within 45

days of the date of this notice will be

considered by FRA before final action is

taken. Comments received after that

date will be considered to the extent

practicable. All written communications

concerning this proceeding are available

for examination during regular business

hours (9 a.m.–5 p.m.) at the above

facility.

Issued in Washington, DC on September

21, 2000.

Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,

Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety

Standards and Program Development.

[FR Doc. 00–25072 Filed 9–28–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration

Environmental Impact Statement for

Transportation Improvements Within

the North 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, intent to prepare an

environmental impact statement (EIS) in

accordance with the National

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for

transportation improvements within the

proposed North Corridor in

Mecklenburg and Iredell Counties,

North Carolina. The study corridor of

approximately 30 miles extends from

Uptown Charlotte (the center city) in

Mecklenburg County to the Town of

Mooresville in southern Iredell 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

58598 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 190 / Friday, September 29, 2000 / Notices

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 North

Corridor. The North 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 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 19, 2000, 6:30 pm–

9:00 pm, Mooresville Citizens Center,

215 N. Main Street, Mooresville, NC

28115

Monday, September 25, 2000, 6:30 pm—

9:00 pm, Huntersville Presbyterian

Church, 201 Old Statesville Road,

Huntersville, NC 28078

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)

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 Northeast

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, CharlotteMecklenburg Government Center. See

ADDRESSES below.

Scoping is being conducted for three

other related corridors—Northeast

(University), Southeast (Independence),

and West (Airport)—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 North 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 Kelly R.

Goforth, Project Manager, Charlotte Area

Transit System, 600 East Forth Street,

Charlotte, NC 28202–2858. Public

scoping meetings will be held at the

following locations: Mooresville

Citizens Center, 215 N. Main Street,

Mooresville, NC 28115; Huntersville

Presbyterian Church, 201 Old Statesville

Road, Huntersville, NC 28078;

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 material will also 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 North 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

citizen’s quality of life. The 2025 Plan

identified the North Corridor as a highpriority transit corridor based on current

and future mobility needs, cost

feasibility and potential ridership.

The proposed project corridor extends

approximately 30 miles from Uptown

Charlotte (the center city) in

Mecklenburg County to the Town of

Mooresville in southern Iredell County,

and includes portions of the Towns of

Cornelius, Davidson, and Huntersville.

The project study corridor generally

follows the Interstate 77 (I–77) northsouth corridor and includes the Norfolk

Southern rail line and major arterials

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 190 / Friday, September 29, 2000 / Notices 58599

that parallel I–77. 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

low density residential and commercial,

light industrial and manufacturing uses;

and the northernmost portion of the

corridor has a semi-rural character of

low density development and

undeveloped tracts of land.

Interstate 77 is currently a four-lane

controlled access freeway within the

study area and has an average daily

traffic (ADT) volume of 78,000 vehicles

per day (vpd) in the segment north of

Interstate 85. This facility experiences

severe congestion and delays

particularly during peak travel times

and is considered to be one of the major

transportation problems facing this

rapidly growing region. Currently, I–77

is rated as having very poor mobility

(level of service F in many sections

during peak periods). The future traffic

volumes for the year 2020 are projected

to increase to 188,000 ADT for the

segment between I–85 and I–485; and

136,000 ADT for the segment between I–

485 and NC 73, an increase of 74% to

240% in daily traffic for this facility.

The North Carolina Department of

Transportation (NCDOT) has

programmed the reconstruction of I–77

as an eight-lane facility from I–85 to I–

485 to begin in the year 2003; the

reconstruction of I–77 from I–485 to NC

73 as a six-lane facility begins in 2006.

However, even with these roadway

improvements, a substantial portion of

this facility will still experience severe

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.

Incorporated towns within the North

Corridor study area are among the

fastest-growing communities in the

state.

The Charlotte Metropolitan Area has

exceed 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–77 corridor 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 North 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. 00–24860 Filed 9–28–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–57–M

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).

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