Document ID: USCG-2011-0351-0173
Agency: uscg
Document Type: Notice
Title: Consolidated Port Approaches and International Entry and Departure Transit Areas Port Access Route Studies (PARS) Integral to Efficiency of Possible Atlantic Coast Fairways
Posted Date: 2022-09-09T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 174 (Friday, September 9, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55449-55450]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-19546]

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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

[Docket No. USCG-2011-0351]

Consolidated Port Approaches and International Entry and 
Departure Transit Areas Port Access Route Studies (PARS) Integral to 
Efficiency of Possible Atlantic Coast Fairways

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard announces the availability of the Consolidated 
Port Approaches and International Entry and Departure Transit Areas 
Port Access Route Studies (CPAPARS). This report summarizes the 
findings of four regional port access route studies: the Northern New 
York Bight; Seacoast of New Jersey Including Offshore Approaches to the 
Delaware Bay, Delaware; Approaches to the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia; and 
the Seacoast of North Carolina Including Approaches to the Cape Fear 
River and Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina. This notice announces the 
conclusion of the studies supplemental to the Atlantic Coast Port 
Access Route Study (ACPARS), announced on in the Federal Register on 
March 15, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about this document 
call or email John Stone, Coast Guard; telephone 202-372-1093, email 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Atlantic Coast Port Access Route Study

    On April 5, 2017, the Coast Guard announced the completion of the 
Atlantic Coast Port Access Route Study in the Federal Register (82 FR 
16510), which is available for viewing and

[[Page 55450]]

download from the Coast Guard Navigation Center's website at https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/port-access-route-studies.
    The ACPARS identified navigation safety corridors along the 
Atlantic Coast based on the predominant two-way vessel traffic and 
customary routes identified with AIS data for offshore deep draft and 
coastal seagoing tug/tow vessels. The study recommended developing 
these corridors into official shipping safety fairways or other 
appropriate vessel routing measures.
    Based on the recommendations provided in the ACPARS, the Coast 
Guard published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) in the 
Federal Register (85 FR 37034) on June 19, 2020. This ANPRM, which is 
available for viewing and download from the Federal Register docket 
USCG-2019-0279 at www.regulations.gov, sought comments regarding the 
possible establishment of fairways along the Atlantic Coast of the 
United States identified in the ACPARS.

Consolidated Port Approaches and International Entry and Departure 
Transit Areas Port Access Route Studies

    Recognizing the ACPARS only analyzed coastal, longshore, and 
predominantly north/south vessel transit routes along the Atlantic 
Coast, the Coast Guard announced new studies focused on port approaches 
and international entry and departure areas along the Atlantic Coast 
supplemental to the ACPARS, on March 15, 2019. This report summarizes 
the findings of four regional port access route studies: the Northern 
New York Bight; Seacoast of New Jersey Including Offshore Approaches to 
the Delaware Bay, Delaware; Approaches to the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia; 
and the Seacoast of North Carolina. The CPAPARS has been completed and 
has been uploaded to the docket and at https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/port-access-route-study-reports for public review.
    This notice is issued under authority of 46 U.S.C. 70003(c).

    Dated: September 2, 2022.
M.D. Emerson,
Director, Marine Transportation Systems.
[FR Doc. 2022-19546 Filed 9-8-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9110-04-P