3956 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 15 / Monday, January 25, 2010 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Transit Administration 

Intent To Prepare an Environmental 

Impact Statement for Proposed Transit 

Improvements in the Eastside Transit 

Corridor Phase 2, Eastern Portion of 

Los Angeles County, CA 

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration, 

DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Transit 

Administration (FTA) and the Los 

Angeles County Metropolitan 

Transportation Authority (LACMTA) 

intend to prepare an Environmental 

Impact Statement (EIS) for the Eastside 

Transit Corridor Phase 2 Project in Los 

Angeles County, California. LACMTA 

operates the Metro transit system in Los 

Angeles County. The proposed project 

would provide a continuation of the 

Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension, a 

light rail transit line (LRT), from Union 

Station in downtown Los Angeles to 

East Los Angeles. This connection 

between Downtown Los Angeles and 

the growing Eastside is consistent with 

regional transportation and land use 

plans. Phase 2 would expand upon the 

Gold Line Eastside Extension 

investment and bring improved, highcapacity transit service as far east as 

Whittier or South El Monte, connecting 

the cities of Commerce, Monterey Park, 

Montebello, Rosemead, South El Monte, 

Pico Rivera, Santa Fe Springs and 

Whittier, and unincorporated portions 

of Los Angeles County which include 

east Los Angeles and west Whittier-Los 

Nietos. 

The EIS will be prepared in 

accordance with the requirements of the 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) and its implementing 

regulations. LACMTA will also use the 

EIS document to comply with the 

California Environmental Quality Act 

(CEQA), which requires an 

Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The 

purpose of this notice is to alert 

interested parties regarding the intent to 

prepare the EIS, to provide information 

on the nature of the proposed project 

and possible alternatives, to invite 

public participation in the EIS process 

(including providing comments on the 

scope of the Draft Environmental Impact 

Statement (DEIS)), to announce that 

public scoping meetings will be 

conducted, and to identify participating 

and cooperating agency contacts. 

DATES: Written comments on the scope 

of the EIS, including the project’s 

purpose and need, the alternatives to be 

considered, the impacts to be evaluated, 

and the methodologies to be used in the 

evaluations should be sent to LACMTA 

on or before April 14, 2010, at the 

address below. See ADDRESSES below for 

the address to which written public 

comments may be sent. Public scoping 

meetings to accept comments on the 

scope of the EIS/EIR will be held on the 

following dates: 

• Monday, February 22, 2010; 6 to 8 

p.m. at the Pico Women’s Center, 9214 

Mines Avenue, Pico Rivera, CA. 

• Wednesday, February 24, 2010; 6 to 

8 p.m. at the South El Monte Senior 

Center/Dining Room, 1556 Central 

Avenue, South El Monte, CA. 

• Thursday, February 25, 2010; 6 to 8 

p.m. at the Senior Center at City Park— 

South Wing, 115 South Taylor Avenue, 

Montebello, CA. 

• Saturday, February 27, 2010; 10 

a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Salvation Army 

Santa Fe Springs—Studio 12000, 12000 

East Washington Boulevard, Whittier, 

CA. 

The project’s purpose and need and 

the description of alternatives for the 

proposed project will be presented at 

these meetings. The buildings used for 

the scoping meetings are accessible to 

persons with disabilities. Any 

individual who requires special 

assistance, such as a sign language 

interpreter, to participate in the scoping 

meeting should contact Ms. Kimberly 

Yu, Transportation Planning Manager, 

LACMTA, at (213) 922–7910, or 

yuki@metro.net. 

Scoping materials will be available at 

the meetings and on the LACMTA Web 

site (http://www.metro.net/ 

eastsidephase2). Paper copies of the 

scoping materials may also be obtained 

from Ms. Ann Kerman, Outreach Project 

Manager, LACMTA, at (213) 922–7671, 

or kermana@metro.net. An interagency 

scoping meeting will be held on 

Thursday, February 18, 2010, at 10 a.m. 

at LACMTA, in the Windsor Conference 

Room, 15th Floor, One Gateway Plaza, 

Los Angeles, CA 90012. Representatives 

of Native American Tribal governments 

and of all Federal, State, regional and 

local agencies that may have an interest 

in any aspect of the project will be 

invited to be participating or 

cooperating agencies, as appropriate. 

ADDRESSES: Comments will be accepted 

at the public scoping meetings or they 

may be sent to Ms. Kimberly Yu, Project 

Manager, Los Angeles County 

Metropolitan Transportation Authority, 

One Gateway Plaza, Mail Stop 99–22–2, 

Los Angeles, CA 90012, or via e-mail at 

yuki@metro.net. The locations of the 

public scoping meetings are given above 

under DATES. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Ray Tellis, Team Leader, Los Angeles 

Metropolitan Office, Federal Transit 

Administration, 888 South Figueroa 

Street, Suite 1850, Los Angeles, CA 

90017, phone (213) 202–3950, e-mail 

ray.tellis@dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Scoping 

Scoping is the process of determining 

the scope, focus and content of an EIS. 

FTA and LACMTA invite all interested 

individuals and organizations, public 

agencies, and Native American Tribes to 

comment on the scope of the Draft EIS, 

including the project’s purpose and 

need, the alternatives to be studied, the 

impacts to be evaluated, and the 

evaluation methods to be used. 

Comments should focus on: Alternatives 

that may be less costly or have less 

environmental or community impacts 

while achieving similar transportation 

objectives, and the identification of any 

significant social, economic, or 

environmental issues relating to the 

alternatives. 

NEPA ‘‘scoping’’ has specific and 

fairly limited objectives, one of which is 

to identify the significant issues 

associated with alternatives that will be 

examined in detail in the document, 

while simultaneously limiting 

consideration and development of 

issues that are not truly significant. It is 

in the NEPA scoping process that 

potentially significant environmental 

impacts—those that give rise to the need 

to prepare an environmental impact 

statement—should be identified; 

impacts that are deemed not to be 

significant need not be developed 

extensively in the context of the impact 

statement, thereby keeping the 

statement focused on impacts of 

consequence. Transit projects may also 

generate environmental benefits; these 

should be highlighted as well—the 

impact statement process should draw 

attention to positive impacts, not just 

negative impacts. 

Once the scope of the environmental 

study, including significant 

environmental issues to be addressed, is 

settled, an annotated outline of the 

document will be prepared and shared 

with interested agencies and the public. 

The outline serves at least three worthy 

purposes, including (1) Documenting 

the results of the scoping process; (2) 

contributing to the transparency of the 

process; and (3) providing a clear 

roadmap for concise development of the 

environmental document. 

In the interest of producing a readable 

and user-friendly public document, and 

pursuant to 40 CFR 1502.10, the EIS 


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shall be limited to 250 pages exclusive 

of any 4(f) and/or 6(f) evaluation. The 

EIS should emphasize graphics and 

virtual visual simulations over technical 

jargon, and technical appendices shall 

be included in a separate volume. 

Project Initiation 

The FTA and LACMTA will prepare 

an Environmental Impact Statement/ 

Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) 

for the Eastside Transit Corridor Phase 

2 Project pursuant to 23 U.S.C. 139 and 

the California Environmental Quality 

Act (CEQA). LACMTA is serving as the 

local lead agency for purposes of CEQA 

environmental clearance, and FTA is 

serving as the Federal lead agency for 

purposes of National Environmental 

Policy Act (NEPA) environmental 

clearance. This notice shall alert 

interested parties to the preparation of 

the EIS/EIR, describe the alternatives 

under consideration, invite public 

participation in the EIS/EIR process, 

and announce the public scoping 

meetings. FTA and LACMTA will invite 

interested Federal, State, Tribal, 

regional and local government agencies 

to be participating agencies under the 

provisions of Section 6002 of 

SAFETEA–LU. 

Purpose and Need for the Project 

The purpose of this project is to 

improve public transit service and 

mobility in the Eastside Transit Corridor 

Phase 2. The project would provide the 

study area with improved fixedguideway east-west transit service from 

the Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension 

(Phase 1) to cities farther east of the city 

of Los Angeles. Possible eastern 

extensions from the Metro Gold Line 

Phase 1 terminus at Atlantic Boulevard 

would generally continue east parallel 

to or along State Route 60 or south along 

Garfield Avenue, turning southeast 

along Washington Boulevard. The 

overall goal of the proposed project is to 

improve mobility in the Eastside Transit 

Corridor Phase 2 by extending the 

benefits of the existing Metro Gold Line 

and bus investments beyond the current 

terminus. Mobility problems and 

potential improvements for this corridor 

have been well documented in many 

studies that are available from Metro’s 

Records Management Department, 

including numerous Metro Red Line 

planning studies, Eastside Transit 

Corridor Studies: Re-Evaluation Major 

Investment Study (2000), the Eastside 

Transit Corridor Phase 2 Final 

Alternatives Analysis Report (2009), the 

Eastside Transit Corridor Phase 2 

Alternatives Analysis Addendum 

(2009), Southern California Association 

of Governments (SCAG) planning 

studies, the Metro Rapid Demonstration 

Project (2000), and in the Southern 

California Association of Governments’ 

Regional Transportation Plan (2004). 

The Eastside Transit Corridor Phase 2 

is identified in the LACMTA’s Long 

Range Plan and has been selected as one 

of the many transit and highway 

projects to receive local Measure R 

funding. Additional considerations 

supporting the project’s need include: 

(1) The concentration of activity centers 

and destinations dispersed throughout 

the project area, such as Montebello 

Town Center, Monterey Park Mall, Pico 

Rivera Town Center, Industry Office 

Park, Santa Fe Springs Promenade, 

Uptown Whittier District, and Whittier 

Narrows Recreation Center, which have 

a high volume of pedestrian activity and 

attract residents from within and 

outside of the study area; (2) over the 

next 20 years, population is expected to 

grow by nearly 24%, for a total of 

830,000, and employment is also 

expected to increase 15%, for a total of 

384,000 jobs; (3) increasing traffic 

congestion on the highway and arterial 

network throughout the project area; (4) 

transit-supportive General Plans in the 

cities of Commerce, Montebello, 

Monterey Park, Pico Rivera, Rosemead, 

Whittier, and county of Los Angeles; (5) 

significant transit dependent population 

in western and eastern portions of the 

project area; and (6) emerging travel 

demand patterns associated with a jobrich study area that has led to 

significant westbound congestion 

during the morning rush hours and 

corresponding eastbound congestion 

during the evening rush hours. 

Project Location and Environmental 

Setting 

The Eastside Transit Corridor Phase 2 

Project is located in eastern Los Angeles 

County and is generally bounded by 

Pomona Boulevard and State Route 60 

(SR–60) Freeway to the north, Peck 

Road and Painter Avenue to the east, 

Olympic and Washington Boulevards to 

the south, and Atlantic Boulevard to the 

west. The project area consists of 

portions of eight jurisdictions, including 

the cities of Commerce, Montebello, 

Monterey Park, Pico Rivera, Rosemead, 

Santa Fe Springs, South El Monte, 

Whittier and portions of unincorporated 

Los Angeles County which includes east 

Los Angeles and west Whittier-Los 

Nietos. A diverse mix of land uses are 

located within the project area, 

including single- and multi-family 

residences, commercial and retail uses, 

industrial development, parks and 

recreational uses including the Whittier 

Narrows Recreation Center, health and 

medical uses, educational institutions, 

flood control facilities, and vacant land. 

The proposed Eastside Transit 

Corridor Phase 2 project would connect 

to the eastern terminus of the Metro 

Gold Line Eastside Extension. In 

conjunction with the Metro Gold Line 

Eastside Extension, the project would 

provide through transit service between 

downtown Los Angeles and eastern Los 

Angeles County. 

The two alternatives, Light Rail 

Transit (LRT) system, would begin at 

the Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension 

terminus at Atlantic Boulevard and 

Pomona Boulevard and continue either 

east along SR–60 Freeway or southeast 

along Garfield Avenue and Washington 

Boulevard. Stations plus associated 

parking, traction power substations 

(TPSS), and a maintenance yard would 

be part of each LRT alternative. 

Alternatives 

The Eastside Transit Corridor Phase 2 

Alternatives Analysis Report (2009) and 

further refinement documented in the 

Alternatives Analysis Report 

Addendum, prepared for LACMTA, 

identified four alternatives for further 

consideration in the EIS/EIR. The four 

alternatives include: A No-Build 

Alternative, Transportation System 

Management (TSM) Alternative, SR–60 

LRT Alternative, and Washington 

Boulevard LRT Alternative. 

No-Build Alternative: The No-Build 

Alternative would maintain existing 

transit service through the year 2035. No 

new transportation infrastructure would 

be built within the project area aside 

from projects currently under 

construction, or funded for construction 

and operation by 2035 by the recently 

approved Measure R sales tax. This 

alternative will include the highway 

and transit projects in the current Metro 

Long Range Transportation Plan and the 

2035 Southern California Association of 

Governments Regional Transportation 

Plan. The completion of the Metro 

Rapid Bus Program would be included 

as well as possible additional feeder bus 

networks to serve the region’s major 

activity centers. 

Transportation System Management 

(TSM) Alternative: The DEIS/DEIR will 

evaluate transportation and 

environmental effects of modest 

improvements in the highway and 

transit systems beyond those in the NoBuild Alternative. The TSM Alternative 

would include low-cost improvements 

to the No-Build Alternative to reduce 

delay and enhance mobility. The TSM 

Alternative would emphasize 

transportation system upgrades, such as 

intersection improvements, minor road 

widening, traffic engineering actions, 


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bus route restructuring, shortened bus 

headways, expanded use of articulated 

buses, reserved bus lanes, expanded 

park-and-ride facilities, express and 

limited-stop service, signalization 

improvements, and timed-transfer 

operations. Key elements of the TSM 

Alternative include: Providing new 

Pomona Freeway Express service 

connecting to the Metro Gold Line 

Eastside Extension terminus; providing 

new Beverly Boulevard Rapid bus 

service; adding service to M10 Whittier 

Boulevard and M50 Washington 

Boulevard bus routes; upgrading M30 

Garfield Avenue and M20 Montebello 

Boulevard bus lines; adding service to 

Metro 265 and 266 local buses; adding 

service to Foothill Transit 274; and 

providing new 577 Express service 

operating along Metro Route 270. 

SR–60 LRT Alternative: This build 

alternative alignment extends 

approximately 6.9 miles east with a 

street level, at-grade system from the 

current Metro Gold Line Eastside 

Extension terminus at Atlantic 

Boulevard and Pomona Boulevard and 

transitions to an aerial configuration 

along the south edge of the SR–60 

Freeway, within the right-of-way, to 

Peck Road. A total of four aerial stations 

are proposed under this alternative with 

locations at SR–60 and Garfield Avenue, 

SR–60 and Montebello Town Center, 

SR–60 and Santa Anita Avenue, and 

SR–60 and Peck Road. 

Washington Boulevard LRT 

Alternative: This build alternative 

alignment extends east with a street 

level, at-grade system from the current 

Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension 

terminus at Atlantic Boulevard and 

Pomona Boulevard and transitions to an 

aerial configuration along the south 

edge of the SR–60 Freeway. The aerial 

alignment turns and continues south on 

Garfield Avenue, and then continues 

southeast along Washington Boulevard 

to a terminus east of Lambert Road. This 

alternative is approximately 9.3 miles in 

length, with a total of six aerial stations 

located at SR–60 and Garfield Avenue, 

Garfield Avenue and Whittier 

Boulevard, Washington Boulevard and 

Greenwood Avenue, Washington and 

Rosemead Boulevards, Washington and 

Norwalk Boulevards, and Washington 

Boulevard and Lambert Road. 

Probable Effects 

The purpose of this EIS/EIR process is 

to study, in a public setting, the effects 

of the proposed project and its 

alternatives on the physical, human, 

and natural environment. The FTA and 

LACMTA will evaluate all significant 

environmental, social, and economic 

impacts of the construction and 

operation of the proposed project. The 

probable impacts will be determined as 

a part of project scoping. Unless further 

screening illuminates areas of possible 

impact, resource areas will be limited to 

those uncovered during scoping. 

Measures to avoid, minimize, and 

mitigate adverse impacts will also be 

identified and evaluated. 

FTA Procedures 

The regulations implementing NEPA, 

as well as provisions of the Safe, 

Accountable, Flexible, Efficient 

Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for 

Users (SAFETEA–LU), call for public 

involvement in the EIS process. Section 

6002 of SAFETEA–LU requires that FTA 

and LACMTA do the following: (1) 

Extend an invitation to other Federal 

and non-Federal agencies and Native 

American Tribes that may have an 

interest in the proposed project to 

become ‘‘participating agencies;’’ (2) 

provide an opportunity for involvement 

by participating agencies and the public 

to help define the purpose and need for 

a proposed project, as well as the range 

of alternatives for consideration in the 

EIS; and (3) establish a plan for 

coordinating public and agency 

participation in, and comment on, the 

environmental review process. An 

invitation to become a participating or 

cooperating agency, with scoping 

materials appended, will be extended to 

other Federal and non-Federal agencies 

and Native American Tribes that may 

have an interest in the proposed project. 

It is possible that FTA and LACMTA 

will not be able to identify all Federal 

and non-Federal agencies and Native 

American Tribes that may have such an 

interest. Any Federal or non-Federal 

agency or Native American Tribe 

interested in the proposed project that 

does not receive an invitation to become 

a participating agency should notify at 

the earliest opportunity the Project 

Manager identified above under 

ADDRESSES. 

A comprehensive public involvement 

program and a Coordination Plan for 

public and interagency involvement 

will be developed for the project and 

posted on LACMTA’s Web site (Eastside 

Transit Corridor Phase 2 Project Web 

page: http://www.metro.net/ 

eastsidephase2). The public 

involvement program includes a full 

range of activities including the project 

Web page on the LACMTA Web site, 

development and distribution of project 

newsletters, and outreach to local 

officials, community and civic groups, 

and the public. Specific activities or 

events for involvement will be detailed 

in the public involvement program. 

LACMTA may seek New Starts 

funding for the proposed project under 

49 United States Code 5309 and will, 

therefore, be subject to New Starts 

regulations (49 Code of Federal 

Regulations (CFR) Part 611). The New 

Starts regulations also require the 

submission of certain projectjustification information to support a 

request to initiate preliminary 

engineering. This information is 

normally developed in conjunction with 

the NEPA process. Pertinent New Starts 

evaluation criteria will be included in 

the EIS. 

The EIS will be prepared in 

accordance with NEPA and its 

implementing regulations issued by the 

Council on Environmental Quality (40 

CFR Parts 1500–1508) and with the 

FTA/Federal Highway Administration 

regulations ‘‘Environmental Impact and 

Related Procedures’’ (23 CFR Part 771). 

In accordance with 23 CFR Part 

771.105(a) and 23 CFR Part 774, FTA 

will comply with all Federal 

environmental laws, regulations, and 

executive orders applicable to the 

proposed project during the 

environmental review process to the 

maximum extent practicable. These 

requirements include, but are not 

limited to, the environmental and 

public hearing provisions of Federal 

transit laws (49 U.S.C. 5301(e), 5323(b), 

and 5324); the project-level air quality 

conformity regulation of the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

(40 CFR Part 93); the Section 404(b)(1) 

guidelines of EPA (40 CFR Part 230); the 

regulation implementing Section 106 of 

the National Historic Preservation Act 

(36 CFR Part 800); the regulation 

implementing Section 7 of the 

Endangered Species Act (50 CFR Part 

402); Section 4(f) of the Department of 

Transportation Act (23 CFR Part 774); 

and Executive Orders 12898 on 

environmental justice, 11988 on 

floodplain management, and 11990 on 

wetlands. 

Issued on: January 20, 2010. 

Leslie T. Rogers, 

Regional Administrator, Region IX, Federal 

Transit Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2010–1332 Filed 1–22–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–57–P 


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