107190 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 250 / Tuesday, December 31, 2024 / Notices 

1On December 17, 2024, KXHR filed an errata 

with an updated map. 

2According to KXHR, the state of the tunnel 

currently limits the type of freight that can traverse 

the Line, furthering limiting KXHR’s potential for 

new traffic. (Pet. 6 n.8.) 

3Filing fees for OFAs and trail use requests can 

be found at 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25) and (27), 

respectively. 

Inc., filed a petition under 49 U.S.C. 

10502 for an exemption from the prior 

approval requirements of 49 U.S.C. 

10903 to abandon an approximately 3.8- 

mile rail line between milepost 0.1 and 

the end of the line, all of which is 

located in Knoxville, Knox County, 

Tenn. (the Line).1 The Line traverses 

U.S. Postal Service Zip Code 37920 and 

has no stations. 

According to KXHR, it is seeking 

authority to abandon the Line because 

the traffic and revenues from the sole 

shipper, Ergon Terminaling, Inc. 

(Ergon), are insufficient to cover the 

costs of maintaining and operating the 

Line. (Pet. 3–5.) KXHR states that Ergon 

has significantly reduced its use of the 

Line, (id. at 5), and as a result, KXHR 

faces significant hardship from 

continued operation of the Line at a 

loss, (id. at 4). According to KXHR, 

since 2019, it has not received enough 

revenue to sustain operations, receiving 

an average of 8.2 carloads per year from 

2019–2024. (Id.) KXHR states that the 

average revenue per year over the last 

five years for the Line is $5,343.00, and 

the operating costs of the Line currently 

exceed the average revenue generated 

from the Line by over 90%. (Id.) KXHR 

does not anticipate current traffic 

volumes will increase significantly. (Id.) 

Additionally, KXHR states that its 

initiatives to market and develop new 

local businesses on the Line have failed. 

(Id. at 6.) According to KXHR, portions 

of the Line are situated in a rapidly 

developing area, with the first 1.5 miles 

expanding into a mixed-use residential/ 

commercial development area, making 

it extremely costly and unlikely for new 

shippers or industries to make use of or 

require freight services. (Id.) Moreover, 

KXHR states that a tunnel at milepost 

0.1 requires significant rehabilitation 

efforts to ensure continued safe and 

efficient operations on the Line.2 (Id.) 

KXHR states that, given the Line’s 

limited and unpredictable traffic and 

the lack of projected future traffic, there 

is no way the Line can be operated 

profitably. (Id.) 

According to KXHR, Ergon can, and 

has, used alternative modes, such as 

barge and truck, for its transportation 

needs. (Id. at 4–5.) KXHR states that it 

notified Ergon around October 2024 that 

it planned to seek abandonment 

authority and terminate its common 

carrier obligations over the Line and 

served Ergon with a copy of its petition. 

(Id. at 6–7.) KXHR further states that 

there are no overhead operations on the 

Line. (Id. at 7.) 

KXHR states that, based on 

information in its possession, the Line 

does not contain federally granted 

rights-of-way. Any documentation in 

KXHR’s possession will be made 

available promptly to those requesting 

it. 

The interest of railroad employees 

will be protected by the conditions set 

forth in Oregon Short Line Railroad— 

Abandonment Portion Goshen Branch 

Between Firth & Ammon, in Bingham & 

Bonneville Counties, Idaho, 360 I.C.C. 

91 (1979). 

By issuing this notice, the Board is 

instituting an exemption proceeding 

pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 10502(b). A final 

decision will be issued by March 31, 

2025. 

Any offer of financial assistance 

(OFA) under 49 CFR 1152.27(b)(2) will 

be due no later than 120 days after the 

filing of the petition for exemption, or 

10 days after service of a decision 

granting the petition for exemption, 

whichever occurs sooner. Persons 

interested in submitting an OFA must 

first file a formal expression of intent to 

file an offer by January 10, 2025, 

indicating the type of financial 

assistance they wish to provide (i.e., 

subsidy or purchase) and demonstrating 

that they are preliminarily financially 

responsible. See 49 CFR 1152.27(c)(1)(i). 

The Line may be suitable for other 

public use, including interim trail use. 

Any request for a public use condition 

under 49 CFR 1152.28 or for interim 

trail use/railbanking under 49 CFR 

1152.29 will be due no later than 

January 21, 2025.3

All pleadings, referring to Docket No. 

AB 580 (Sub-No. 1X), must be filed with 

the Surface Transportation Board either 

via e-filing on the Board’s website or in 

writing addressed to 395 E Street SW, 

Washington, DC 20423–0001. In 

addition, a copy of each pleading must 

be served on KXHR’s representative, 

Crystal M. Zorbaugh, Mullins Law 

Group PLLC, 2001 L St. NW, Suite 720, 

Washington, DC 20036. Replies to the 

petition are due on or before February 

10, 2025. 

Persons seeking further information 

concerning abandonment procedures 

may contact the Board’s Office of Public 

Assistance, Governmental Affairs, and 

Compliance at (202) 245–0238 or refer 

to the full abandonment regulations at 

49 CFR part 1152. Questions concerning 

environmental issues may be directed to 

the Board’s Office of Environmental 

Analysis (OEA) at (202) 245–0294. If 

you require an accommodation under 

the Americans with Disabilities Act, 

please call (202) 245–0245. 

OEA will prepare an environmental 

assessment (EA) (or environmental 

impact statement (EIS), if necessary), 

which will be served upon all parties of 

record and upon any other agencies or 

persons who comment during its 

preparation. Other interested persons 

may contact OEA to obtain a copy of the 

EA (or EIS). EAs in abandonment 

proceedings normally will be made 

available within 60 days of the filing of 

the petition. The deadline for 

submission of comments on the EA 

generally will be within 30 days of its 

service. 

Board decisions and notices are 

available at www.stb.gov. 

Decided: December 23, 2024. 

By the Board, Scott M. Zimmerman, Acting 

Director, Office of Proceedings. 

Stefan Rice, 

Clearance Clerk. 

[FR Doc. 2024–31375 Filed 12–30–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4915–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Highway Administration 

[Docket No. FHWA–2024–0085] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Request for Comments for a 

New Information Collection 

AGENCY: Federal Highway 

Administration (FHWA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: The FHWA has forwarded the 

information collection request described 

in this notice to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) to 

approve a new information collection. 

We are required to publish this notice 

in the Federal Register by the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. 

DATES: Please submit comments by 

January 30, 2025. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

identified by DOT Docket ID Number 

0085 by any of the following methods: 

Website: For access to the docket to 

read background documents or 

comments received go to the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://

www.regulations.gov. 

Follow the online instructions for 

submitting comments. 

Fax: 1–202–493–2251. 

Mail: Docket Management Facility, 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 

West Building Ground Floor, Room 


khammond on DSK9W7S144PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 250 / Tuesday, December 31, 2024 / Notices 107191 

W12–140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, 

Washington, DC 20590–0001. 

Hand Delivery or Courier: U.S. 

Department of Transportation, West 

Building Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, 

Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. 

and 5 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, 

except Federal holidays. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Derek Constable, (202) 366–4606, Office 

of Bridges and Structures, Federal 

Highway Administration, Department of 

Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue Southeast, Washington, DC 

20590. Office hours are from 7 a.m. to 

4 p.m., Monday through Friday, except 

Federal holidays. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We 

published a Federal Register Notice 

with a 60-day public comment period 

on this information collection on 

October 25, 2024, at [89 FR 85282]. 

There were no comments received. 

Title: FY24 Competitive Highway 

Bridge Program (CHBP). 

Background: The Consolidated 

Appropriations Act, 2024, Public Law 

118–42, Section 126, March 9, 2024, 

provides $250 million to be awarded by 

the Federal Highway Administration 

(FHWA) for a Competitive Highway 

Bridge Program. 

Eligible applicants are States that 

have a population density of less than 

115 individuals per square mile and less 

than 26% of total bridges classified as 

in good condition; or greater than or 

equal to 5.2% of total bridges classified 

in poor condition. States meeting the 

population criteria and that have greater 

than 14% of total bridges classified as 

in poor condition are eligible to receive 

no less than $32,500,000. The funds 

shall be used for highway bridge 

replacement or rehabilitation projects 

on public roads that demonstrate cost 

savings by bundling multiple highway 

bridge projects. Population density is 

calculated based on the latest available 

data from the decennial census 

conducted under section 14(a) of title 

13, United States Code. Percentages of 

bridge counts are based on the National 

Bridge Inventory as of June 2023. 

[Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, 

Public Law 118–42, Section 126, March 

9, 2024] 

Population density is calculated based 

on the latest available data on March 9, 

2024, the date which the Consolidated 

Appropriations Act, 2024, became law. 

Resident population density is used. 

The percentages are based on number of 

bridges. Funds shall be obligated by 

September 30, 2027. 

Based on these requirements, eligible 

applicants are the State Departments of 

Transportation (State DOTs) of Alaska, 

Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, 

Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, 

Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, 

Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, West 

Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. 

State DOTs that are eligible to receive 

no less than $32,500,000 include Iowa, 

Maine, South Dakota, and West 

Virginia. 

Awards will be made only to a State 

DOT. Applications by non-State Dot 

entities must be submitted by the State 

DOT in which they are located. 

Each application will require the 

following project narrative: 

• A discussion and supporting 

information that describes the project 

description, location, and project 

parties, 

• a discussion and supporting 

information on proposed project 

funding including the sources and 

availability of funds to supplement a 

grant award and to supplement the 

Federal share, 

• a discussion and supporting 

information on how the project meets 

the CHBP merit criteria, 

• a discussion and supporting 

information on project readiness and 

environmental status to include 

discussion and supporting information 

on technical feasibility, project 

schedule, status of required approvals 

including environmental permits and 

reviews, status of State, metropolitan, 

and local planning document approvals, 

and an assessment of project risks and 

mitigation strategies. 

Each applicant selected for CHBP 

grant funding will be required to 

execute a project agreement which is a 

type of grant agreement for 

administration of funds to a State DOT 

in FHWA’s Fiscal Management System. 

In the agreement, the recipient must 

describe the project that FHWA agreed 

to fund, which is the project that was 

described in the application or a 

reduced-scope version of that project. 

The agreement also includes project 

schedule milestones, a budget, and 

project-related goals. 

Each applicant selected for CHBP 

grant funding (awardee) will be required 

to collect and report project monitoring 

information. This will include 

information on the project’s 

performance using performance 

indicators supplied by FHWA that relate 

to CHBP goals. Performance reporting 

continues for several years after project 

construction is completed. Each 

awardee will submit progress and 

monitoring reports on a quarterly basis 

until completion of the project as 

determined by FHWA. This information 

will be used to monitor awardees’ use 

of Federal funds, ensuring 

accountability and financial 

transparency. 

These requirements will be further 

detailed in the Notice of Funding 

Opportunity 

This notice seeks comments on the 

proposed information collection, which 

will collect information necessary to 

support the evaluation of applications 

and selection of project awards, the 

funding agreement negotiation stage for 

awards, and project monitoring. 

Respondents: Any eligible State DOT 

can submit as many as three 

applications. A limit of three 

applications will be specified in the 

Notice of Funding Opportunity. There 

are 18 eligible States. 

Frequency: Annually. 

Estimated Average Burden per 

Response: 100 hours per respondent per 

application. In addition, each awarded 

project is estimated to require 60 hours 

for negotiating and signing the funding 

agreement and project monitoring 

reporting including performance 

indicator and financial monitoring. 

FHWA is estimates that project 

monitoring will occur for four years. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: It is estimated that the 

respondents will complete 

approximately 27 applications for an 

estimated total of 2,700 burden hours. In 

addition, it is estimated that there will 

be 18 awarded projects for an estimated 

total of 1,080 additional burden hours. 

There are 3,780 total annual burden 

hours. 

Public Comments Invited: You are 

asked to comment on any aspect of this 

information collection, including: (1) 

Whether the proposed collection is 

necessary for the FHWA’s performance; 

(2) the accuracy of the estimated 

burdens; (3) ways for the FHWA to 

enhance the quality, usefulness, and 

clarity of the collected information; and 

(4) ways that the burden could be 

minimized, including the use of 

electronic technology, without reducing 

the quality of the collected information. 

The agency will summarize and/or 

include your comments in the request 

for OMB’s clearance of this information 

collection. 

Authority: The Paperwork Reduction 

Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. chapter 35, as 

amended; and 49 CFR 1.48. 

Issued on: December 26, 2024. 

Jazmyne Lewis, 

Information Collection Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2024–31393 Filed 12–30–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–22–P 


khammond on DSK9W7S144PROD with NOTICES