70866 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 229 / Tuesday, November 28, 2000 / Notices

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

Notice of Intent To Prepare a

Supplement to and To Conduct

Environmental Scoping on 1992 Final

Environmental Impact Statement

(FEIS) for Master Plan Development

[Midfield Terminal Complex] at

Indianapolis International Airport

Located in Indianapolis, IN

AGENCY: Federal Aviation

Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice to announce the intent of

FAA to prepare a Supplement to the

1992 Final EIS at Indianapolis

International Airport and conduct

environmental scoping.

SUMMARY: The Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA) is issuing this

notice to advise the public that a

Supplement to the 1992 Final

Environmental Impact Statement

(FEIS)—Master Plan Development,

Indianapolis International Airport, will

be prepared. In 1992, a Final EIS (FEIS)

and a Record of Decision (ROD) were

completed for the proposed master plan

development at Indianapolis

International Airport (IND). While the

majority of the development elements

assessed in the 1992 FEIS have been

complex, the midfield terminal complex

and associated developments have not

been constructed.

However, there have been a number of

steps taken towards the development of

the midfield terminal complex and

associated developments. In November

2000, the Indianapolis Airport

Authority (IAA) announced its intention

to construct a midfield terminal

complex and associated development.

The FAA determined that it is

appropriate to prepare a Supplement to

the 1992 FEIS (SFEIS) because the IAA’s

proposed development contains more

modifications from the same

development elements proposed and

assessed in the 1992 FEIS. Additional

public scoping will be held in order that

all significant issues related to the

revised proposed actions are identified.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Prescott C. Snyder, Airports

Environmental Program Manager,

Federal Aviation Administration,

Chicago Airports District Office, Room

320, 2300 East Devon Avenue, Des

Plaines, Illinois 60018. Mr. Snyder can

be contacted at (847) 294–7538 (voice),

(847) 294–7046 (facsimile) or by e-mail

at prescott.snyder@faa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: At the

request of the Indianapolis Airport

Authority, the FAA is preparing a

Supplement to the 1992 Final

Environmental Impact Statement. In

November 2000, the Indianapolis

Airport Authority (IAA) announced its

intention to construct a midfield

terminal complex and associated

development at IND. The FAA

determined that it was appropriate to

prepare a Supplement to the 1992 FEIS

(SFEIS) because the IAA’s proposed

development contains more

modifications from the same

development elements proposed and

assessed in the 1992 FEIS.

The proposed developed assessed in

the 1992 FEIS included nine primary

actions of which, five have been

completed and four have not yet been

initiated. A number of miscellaneous

actions were also assessed in the 1992

EIS. The elements and the status of the

primary actions proposed in the 1992

FEIS are as follows:

Completed Actions

• Construct a new 11,200-foot

replacement Runway 5L/23R with

associated taxiway development

• Develop a north taxiway to

proposed Runway 5L/23R

• Develop a south taxiway to

proposed Runway 5L/23R

• Develop a western taxiway parallel

to existing Runway 14⁄32

• Relocated the Indiana Power & Light

Company power lines west of the

airport

• Relocate Bridgeport Road

• Implement the airport’s Part 150 noise

abatement air traffic actions

Uncompleted Actions

• Construct a new midfield terminal

complex

• Relocate the Airport Traffic Control

Tower

• Construct a new midfield interchange

at Interstate 70/Bridgeport Road

(Midfield Terminal Interchange)

• Develop two cross-field taxiways

• Develop an additional high-speed

taxiway exist for Runway 14/34

(Not being assessed in this

Supplement).

While the majority of the actions

assessed in the 1992 FEIS have been

completed, the midfield terminal

complex and associated developments

have not been constructed.

However, there have been a number of

steps taken towards the development of

the midfield terminal complex and

associated developments. These

include: completion of environmental

mitigation as detailed in the 1992 FEIS

(i.e., wetlands and ‘‘Indiana Bat’’

habitat); construction of replacement

Runway 5L/23R, which opened the

midfield site for development; partial

removal of old Runway 5L/23R and

relocation of navaids; and the

preparation of additional studies to

further define midfield terminal project

(Peer Review Process of Midfield

Terminal Studies, Terminal Area Master

Plan, Indianapolis International Airport

Midfield Terminal Project Definition

Manual (Project Definition).

The SFEIS is not seeking

environmental approval for any actions

not related to the development and

operation of the midfield terminal

complex. Also, the development of an

additional high-speed taxiway for

Runway 14/32 is no longer on the

airport’s Airport Layout Plan (ALP) and

is not being assessed as part of this

evaluation.

The 1992 FEIS utilized the latest

available planning design guidelines

and forecasts of passengers and

operations available at that time to

define the design elements of the

midfield terminal complex and

associated developments. However, at

that time, a number of the design

elements were unavailable or were

preliminary estimates. Since 1992, the

Indianapolis Airport Authority has

conducted a number of studies to refine

and update the design elements of the

midfield terminal complex. These

studies, including the most recent

Project Definition, have incorporated

the latest planning guidelines regarding

gate use factors, commercial/retail

space, ticket check-in areas, baggage

claim space, moving sidewalk

requirements, aircraft gate requirements,

parking and automobile requirements.

The result is that most of the individual

design elements from the 1992 FEIS

have been refined and updated.

However, the overall design objectives

for the midfield terminal complex, built

to meet the latest planning guidelines

and to accommodate future passenger

and aircraft demand, remains consistent

with that stated in and assessed in the

1992 FEIS.

For this Supplement to the Final EIS

(SFEIS), the Proposed Project consists of

a new midfield terminal complex and

associated development (relocation of

Airport Traffic Control Tower,

development of midfield terminal

interchange, and construction of crossfield taxiways). The midfield terminal

complex as defined in the 1992 FEIS

was anticipated to open in 2001 and

was designed to accommodate

forecasted 2005 levels of enplaned

passengers and operations; 5,041,000

passengers and 389,557 operations. The

Indianapolis International Airport

Midfield Terminal Project Definition

Manual (Project Definition), completed

in April 2000, updated the opening year

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 229 / Tuesday, November 28, 2000 / Notices 70867

to 2005 and defined the design elements

to accommodate 5,500,000 enplaned

passengers, which was based on

updated forecasts for 2010. Since the

preparation of the Project Definition, the

FAA Terminal Area Forecasts (TAF) for

IND have been updated and report

5,653,123 enplaned passengers and

329,358 annual operations for 2010. The

enplaned passenger projections in the

TAF and the Project Definition are

within three percent of each other.

Because the TAF and Project Definition

forecasts of enplaned passengers are

similar and the TAF is the official

forecast of enplaned passengers and

annual operations for the facility, the

TAF projections will be used

throughout this analysis.

The 1992 FEIS definition of the

midfield terminal complex anticipated

the need for 45 air carrier gates and 28

commuter spaces to accommodate the

aircraft fleet projected for 2005. The

updated definition of the midfield

terminal complex in the Project

Definition has 40 air carrier gates and

two turbo-prop commuter gates. The

difference in the number of gates is due

to changes in the terminal design, which

reflects higher gate utilization, increased

passenger service level requirements,

and updated aircraft requirement

assumptions to reflect changes in

updated forecasts of fleet mix. The

change in the number of turbo-prop

gates is due to the switch nationally

from turbo-prop aircraft to regional jet

aircraft for commuter operations. This

change was not fully anticipated when

the forecasts for the 1992 FEIS were

prepared. Consequently, the number of

turbo-prop spaces was significantly

reduced in the Project Definition to

reflect updated forecasts for turbo-prop

operations. The regional jets, which are

replacing the turbo-prop aircraft, would

utilize the same gates as air carrier jet

aircraft.

The overall square footage (680,000

square feet) of the midfield terminal

complex in the 1992 FEIS is smaller

than the midfield terminal complex

described in the Project Definition

(1,210,200 square feet). The increase in

terminal square footage is a function of

the latest planning/design guidelines for

air passenger terminals, which call for

more passenger gate space, increased

commercial/retail space, larger ticket

check-in areas, more passenger bag

claim space and bag make-up areas,

moving sidewalk requirements, and

aircraft gates to accommodate a variety

of aircraft types. None of the analysis of

environmental impacts in the 1992 FEIS

was based on the square footage of the

proposed midfield terminal complex;

therefore none of the analysis is

invalidated by more square footage. It is

still anticipated that the existing

terminal would be closed and

demolished.

Updated automobile parking

requirements for 2010 have resulted in

an increase in the number of surface and

garage parking spaces proposed for the

midfield terminal complex. The

updated parking requirements include a

total of 15,800 parking spaces (2,800

garages and 13,000 surface), which is

4,800 more spaces than projected in the

1992 FEIS. The 1992 FEIS did not

define the terminal area apron necessary

for the midfield terminal complex. The

Project Definition has identified the

proposed layout and size of 572,150

square yards for the midfield terminal

area apron.

The 1992 FEIS identified the need

and assessed the impact for relocating

the Airport Traffic Control Tower

(ATCT) to a new location on the airfield.

It did not however, identify the exact

location for the ATCT. An ATCT siting

study was completed in 2000 and found

that among the five alternative locations

Site B (southwest of the midfield

terminal complex) was the preferred

location. This location would not

provide an unobstructed view of the

southeastern end of Runway 14/32 as

required by FAA Order 5300.13. In

order to meet this requirement, one of

several options will be needed to be

implemented. These options include:

The modification of the Fedex building,

the relocation of the Fedex ground

tower, the displacement of landing and

takeoff thresholds by 300 feet for

Runway 32, and the use of a variety of

surveillance technologies (e.g., closedcircuit television and ASD radar).

The automobile access to the midfield

terminal complex was defined in

general terms in the 1992 FEIS as being

a new interchange off Interstate-70 near

Bridgeport Road. No specific plans of

the location or design were available in

1992. Since the preparation of the 1992

FEIS, the location and design of the

midfield terminal interchange has been

finalized and disclosed as part of the

1995 Federal Highway Administration

Draft Environmental Assessment (EA).

The FAA has not adopted, issued a

finding, nor is it at this time a

cooperating agency in the preparation of

this draft EA. This SFEIS will assess the

environmental impacts associated with

the construction of the midfield

terminal interchange at the location

provided in the 1995 Draft EA. Service

roads and interior circulation roadways

were not specifically defined in the

1992 FEIS as well. This SFEIS will

provide the environmental assessment

of the location of the airfield service and

interior circulation roadways.

In order to provide the necessary

aircraft access between both sides of the

airfield with a midfield terminal, two

cross-field taxiways were proposed in

the 1992 FEIS. To complete this, one

existing taxiway was to be extended and

another taxiway was to be constructed.

The construction of a new taxiway has

been completed (Taxiway P, 1996), but

the extension to Taxiway R has not been

completed due to the midfield terminal

complex not being constructed. In

addition to refining the design of the

midfield terminal complex, the Project

Definition has reassessed the operation

of the cross-field taxiways. The Project

Definition found that to provide

efficient aircraft taxi-flow to and from

the midfield terminal complex and

across the airfield, a dual taxiway

system would be preferred

configuration. To accomplish this, the

extension of Taxiway R as

recommended in the 1992 FEIS would

be completed and an additional crossfield taxiway just north of Taxiway R

would be constructed. The proposed

cross-field taxiways are still within the

same general area assessed in the 1992

FEIS and would still include the

extension of an existing taxiway and the

construction of another cross-field

taxiway.

The scope of this development is not

significantly different from that

described in earlier scoping completed

for the 1992 FEIS that considered

development of master plan.

Nevertheless, new public scoping will

be held in order that all significant

issues related to the revised proposed

actions are identified. Copies of a

scoping document with additional

detail can be obtained by contacting the

FAA informational contact person

identified above. Federal, State and

local agencies and other interested

parties are invited to make comments

and suggestions to ensure that the full

range of issues related to these proposed

actions are addressed and all significant

issues identified. These comments and

suggestions should be received by the

FAA informational contact person,

identified above, by December 29, 2000.

Scoping by Mail

Scoping will be accomplished by

correspondence. The FAA is soliciting

comments by mail during the period

November 24, 2000 through December

29, 2000. To ensure consideration in the

preparation of the Supplement to the

1992 Final Environmental Impact

Statement, written comments must be

received by December 29, 2000. Late

comments will be considered to the

70868 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 229 / Tuesday, November 28, 2000 / Notices

extent practicable. Letters describing the

proposed action and soliciting

comments have been sent to appropriate

federal, state, and local agencies, with

information describing this proposal

attached. Letters have also been sent to

organizations that are known to have an

interest in this proposal to provide them

the opportunity to comment.

Issued in Des Plaines, Illinois, on

November 16, 2000.

Pene’ A. Beversdorf,

Acting Manager, Chicago Airports District

Office, FAA, Great Lakes Region.

[FR Doc. 00–30253 Filed 11–27–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–13–M

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

Environmental Impact Statement: New

Orleans International Airport, New

Orleans, Louisiana

AGENCY: Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of Intent.

SUMMARY: The FAA is issuing this notice

to advise the public that an

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)

will be prepared and considered for a

proposed new air carrier runway and a

taxiway conversion to a general aviation

runway at New Orleans International

Airport. The existing north-south

Runway 1⁄19 does not provide full

instrument capabilities, nor is it feasible

to expand the runway to meet design

standards to provide these capabilities

because of its proximity to Airport

Access Road and the Interstate 10

overpass. While the proposed runway is

to provide the capacity to meet nearterm forecast peak-period demands

when the airport is experiencing low

visibility, it would also provide capacity

to meet longer-term demands during all

weather conditions. Some of the

alternatives being considered are the no

action; north/south parallel to existing

Runway 1⁄19; as well as an 8 degree

canted north/south alignment. The

conversion of the east-west Taxiway G

to a runway is intended to serve general

aviation (GA) aircraft using the recently

constructed northside facilities,

allowing air traffic controller separation

of lower-speed GA aircraft from higher

performance aircraft. The alternatives

being considered are the no action; the

proposed taxiway to runway

conversion, and others that will be

identified in the EIS study. Included in

the alternatives analysis will be the

consideration of a proposed new

Regional Airport.

Project History: In 1990, the FAA

began preparation of an EIS to address

construction of a new air carrier

runway. However, successful

completion of the 1990 draft EIS was

never accomplished. In 1998, the City of

New Orleans and the New Orleans

Aviation Board began moving forward

with the EIS for a new runway. The

FAA selected a consultant and

preparation of the EIS was begun in late

1999. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

is a cooperating agency with the FAA on

this EIS.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Joyce M. Porter, Environmental

Specialist, Federal Aviation

Administration, Southwest Regional

Office, Fort Worth, Texas 76193–0640.

Telephone (817) 222–5640.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The FAA,

in cooperation with the City of New

Orleans and the New Orleans Aviation

Board, will prepare an EIS for the

proposed projects. The City of New

Orleans and the New Orleans Aviation

Board propose to construct a new air

carrier runway, 8,000 ft long and 150 ft

wide, and its associated taxiways;

convert a east/west taxiway into a

parallel Visual Flight Rule general

aviation runway, 6,731 ft long and 100

ft wide, and construct a new parallel

taxiway; and redesignate the existing

runway 6⁄24 to a taxiway. The FAA

intends to conduct a scoping process to

gather input from all interested parties

to help identify any issues of concern

associated with the proposed projects.

In addition to this notice, Federal, state,

and local agencies, which have

jurisdiction by law or have special

expertise with respect to any potential

environmental impacts associated with

the proposed projects, will be notified

by letter of an agency scoping meeting

to be held January 11, 2001 in the New

Orleans Aviation Board Room at the

airport from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

In order to notify the general public

of the scoping process, a notice will be

placed in a newspaper having general

circulation in the project area describing

the proposed projects. The newspaper

notice will notify the public that

scoping meetings will be held to gain

their input concerning the proposed

project. The scoping meetings are

scheduled for: January 8, 2001 at the

Jerusalem Temple, 1940 Ormond Blvd,

Destrehan, LA; January 9, 2001 at the

Pontchartrain Center, 4545 Williams

Blvd in Kenner, LA; and January 10,

2001 at the Delgado Community

College, Michael Williamson

Gymnasium, 615 City Park Avenue in

New Orleans, LA. Each of the three

meetings will consist of a public

workshop providing information about

the proposed projects from 4 p.m. to 7

p.m., followed by an Open Forum to

obtain public comments from 7 p.m. to

10 p.m. During the public workshops,

participants will be able to view project

related materials and speak with

representatives of the FAA and their

consulting team. The purpose of the

Open Forum is to receive comments

from the public and answer questions

regarding the scope and process related

to the EIS.

Issued on: November 17, 2000.

Naomi L. Saunders,

Manager, Airports Division.

[FR Doc. 00–30254 Filed 11–27–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–13–M

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

Aviation Security Advisory Committee;

Meeting

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of a

meeting of the Aviation Security

Advisory Committee.

DATES: The meeting will be held

December 7, 2000, from 10:00 a.m. to

1:00 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at

the Federal Aviation Administration,

800 Independence Avenue, SW., 10th

floor, MacCracken Room, Washington,

D.C. 20591, telephone 202–267–7622.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant

to section 10(a)(2) of the Federal

Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92–

463; 5 U.S.C. App. 11), notice is hereby

given of a meeting of the Aviation

Security Advisory Committee to be held

December 7, at the Federal Aviation

Administration, 800 Independence

Avenue, SW., 10th floor, MacCracken

Room, Washington, D.C. The agenda for

the meeting will include: The Airport

Security Improvement Act of 2000,

Electronic Fingerprints, Checkpoint

Security Screeners, Status of Work

Groups, and Security Initiatives. The

December 7 meeting is open to the

public but attendance is limited to space

available. Members of the public may

address the committee only with the

written permission of the chair, which

should be arranged in advance. The

chair may entertain public comment if,

in its judgment, doing so will not

disrupt the orderly progress of the

meeting and will not be unfair to any

other person. Members of the public are

welcome to present written material to

the committee at any time. Persons

wishing to present statements or obtain

information should contact the Office of