Opinion ID: 570498
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Substantial Change Relevant to Environmental Concerns.

Text: 43 Plaintiffs-appellants argue that an SEIS should be required because defendants-appellees failed to take a hard look at the consequences of the Interchange design change, and their conclusion not to issue an SEIS is accordingly entitled to no deference. When confronting a design change in a project that has already been the subject of an EIS, the sponsoring agency must consider whether the change will affect the quality of the human environment in a significant manner or to a significant extent not already considered in previous studies. See Marsh v. Oregon Natural Resources Council, 490 U.S. 360, 374, 109 S.Ct. 1851, 1859, 104 L.Ed.2d 377 (1989). If, based on a rule of reason, the agency determines that such an effect will occur and has not been considered, then an SEIS should be prepared. See id. 44 In reviewing an administrative decision not to issue an SEIS, a federal court must undertake a two-step inquiry. First, the court must ask whether the agency took a hard look at the possible effects of the proposed action. See Marsh, 490 U.S. at 373-74, 385, 109 S.Ct. at 1859, 1865; Sierra Club v. United States Army Corps of Eng'rs, 701 F.2d 1011, 1029-30 (2d Cir.1983). Second, if such a hard look has been taken, the court must ask whether the agency's decision was arbitrary or capricious. See Marsh, 490 U.S. at 375-76, 385, 109 S.Ct. at 1865; Town of Rye v. Skinner, 907 F.2d 23, 24 (2d Cir.1990) (per curiam), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 673, 112 L.Ed.2d 665 (1991); 5 U.S.C. § 706 (1988). 45 Plaintiffs-appellants claim that the new Interchange design would affect regional and interstate traffic patterns in the Tappan Zee Corridor (i.e., the Tappan Zee Bridge and its approaches). They argue that the defendants-appellees neither analyzed these effects nor considered data with respect to traffic on the bridge and its approaches, but rather only concentrated on the effects of the redesigned interchange on local traffic patterns around the Interchange. The final EA states that: 46 The [draft EA] documents the results of traffic studies for the revised design, including the likely influence of the design on traffic volumes and patterns within and outside the limits of construction. Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5 in Appendix A of the [draft EA] indicate the revised design will not alter volumes or patterns beyond the limits of construction on the Thruway. [Emphasis added.] Therefore, the design proposed now has no bearing on the previously approved concept to complete I-287 beyond the areas directly or indirectly affected by the proposed revisions and the revised design is wholly consistent with the approved concept to complete I-287 at Exit 15. 47 In support of this conclusion, the Final EA cites the following reasons why the redesigned Interchange would not affect regional traffic patterns, and thus would not significantly impact upon traffic on the Tappan Zee Bridge, seventeen miles east of the Interchange: 48
49 (2) the basic number of lanes for the I-287 connection is the same as approved in 1982; 50 (3) travel times and distances through the Interchange are only minimally affected by the new design; and 51 (4) the design improves safety and enhances the quality of traffic flow in comparison with the 1982 design. 52 As the Draft EA makes clear, the purpose of the new Interchange design is to improve the operation and safety of the Interchange. Further, the second and third listed factors suggest that the redesigned Interchange will do little to attract additional traffic. An NYDOT expert estimates that travel time through the Interchange will improve only by a matter of fifty-two seconds southbound and six seconds northbound (towards the Tappan Zee Bridge), an amount of time too insubstantial to be likely to attract traffic from alternative routes. 53 Furthermore, common sense may provide a reasonable substitute for additional empirical data and expert testimony that plaintiffs would require. The 1987 Tappan Zee Corridor Study indicates that traffic conditions on the Tappan Zee Bridge during peak hours are graded F, the lowest possible grade, meaning stop-and-go traffic. Assuming that traffic could move more quickly northbound through the redesigned Interchange, any traffic proceeding as far as the Tappan Zee Bridge, seventeen miles east of the Interchange, would flow into the stop-and-go traffic in the corridor long before it reached the bridge. As long as the whole route across the bridge is not improved, the increased capacity of a small part of the route, i.e., the Interchange, is unlikely to impact significantly upon the amount of traffic on the bridge. On the other hand, if flow along the whole route is improved, perhaps based on implementation of one or more of the recommendations in the 1987 Tappan Zee Corridor Study, the improvement would not be significantly attributable to the redesigned Interchange. 54 Plaintiffs-appellants have not produced any evidence to support their conclusion that the increase in capacity [of the redesigned Interchange] will divert a significant amount of additional traffic from the George Washington Bridge to the Tappan Zee Bridge. They indicate that the record establishes this result, citing the 1980 Tri-State Study, which, they allege, concluded that the alleviation of congestion attributable to the 1982 design of the I-287 Project would result in significant increased traffic on the Tappan Zee Bridge. On the contrary, the Study states that: 55 The most interesting aspect of the [comparison between pre-Project conditions and conditions that will exist as a result of the I-287 Project] is that even though the induced trip table shows an increase of 1,000 trips crossing the Hudson River, volume on the Tappan Zee Bridge does not increase. While the 'new' trips probably do use [the] Tappan Zee Bridge, fewer trips are diverted from [the] George Washington Bridge when we use the Build trip table. Apparently, I287 does provide an alternative to I80/G.W.Br./I87 but this diversion is sensitive to the congestion on I287. The extra induced travel results in somewhat lower speeds on I287 so this path becomes less attractive to the very long trips. 56 We are still in the process of calculating new trips due to induced development. However as can be seen from the enclosed trip table, only 2 percent of the induced travel from the I287 corridor is destined for east of [the] Hudson [River]. Thus it is doubtful that new development caused by the construction of I287 will have much of an impact on the Tappan Zee Bridge. 57 We conclude that the defendants-appellees did not fail to consider the impact of the new Interchange design upon traffic flows in the relatively distant corridor in eastern Rockland County leading to the Tappan Zee Bridge, seventeen miles east of the Interchange, but rather reasonably concluded that no such impact was likely. We note in this regard that any traffic destined for the Tappan Zee Bridge, but diverted to I-287 from parallel north-south routes such as the Garden State Parkway, would not be an additional increment of traffic in eastern Rockland County, but rather would merely arrive there on the Thruway by a modified route, as contemplated in the 1982 EIS. In sum, we do not regard defendants-appellants as having acted arbitrarily or capriciously in determining that the redesigned Interchange, standing alone, did not introduce new environmental considerations calling for an SEIS. 58