Opinion ID: 164789
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: City of Alexandria and Corridor H

Text: 40 In considering the Plaintiffs' argument that the FHWA unlawfully deferred the required evaluations of 4(f)-protected properties, the parties and both the D.C. and New Mexico district courts place a significant amount of emphasis on two cases from the District of Columbia Circuit addressing the timing of Section 4(f) reviews — Corridor H Alternatives, Inc. v. Slater, 166 F.3d 368 (D.C.Cir.1999), and City of Alexandria v. Slater, 198 F.3d 862 (D.C.Cir.1999). Corridor H concerned a plan to build a new segment of highway in West Virginia. The FHWA issued an ROD prior to conducting the requisite Section 106 reviews to identify historic sites potentially impacted by the project. The court held that the FHWA had failed to comply with Section 4(f) by deferring these reviews until after the issuance of the ROD, despite the fact that the ROD stated that approval of the project was contingent upon successful completion of the Section 106 review process. Id. at 371-73. 41 City of Alexandria, decided after Corridor H, addressed a challenge to the FHWA's approval of plans to replace the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge. In contrast of Corridor H, City of Alexandria held that the FHWA had complied with Section 4(f) because it identified historic properties along the corridor and documented its findings prior to approval in both a Memorandum of Agreement and a Section 4(f) Evaluation. 198 F.3d at 873. The fact that the FHWA deferred [ ] the identification of sites that might be impacted by a small number of `ancillary activities' was not sufficient to establish a Section 4(f) violation. Id. 42 We agree with the holding of both district courts that this case is analogous to City of Alexandria and factually distinguishable from Corridor H. See Valley Cmty. II, 246 F.Supp.2d at 1174; Valley Cmty. I, 231 F.Supp.2d at 34 (noting that [t]he agency's actions in this case are more akin to City of Alexandria than Corridor H. ). Corridor H is somewhat analogous to this case in that both cases involve the adoption of a Programmatic Agreement by the FHWA; however, that is where the similarities end. In Corridor H, the FHWA did not perform the necessary Section 106 reviews prior to issuing the Final EIS and the ROD, and adopted the Programmatic Agreement as an alternate means of complying with Section 4(f). In essence, the Programmatic Agreement was adopted instead of performing the Section 106 review process and completing the Section 4(f) determination, in violation of 23 C.F.R. § 771.135(b). 43 Based on the record in this case, we cannot conclude that the FHWA delayed all necessary reviews until after the issuance of the ROD. It appears the agency made significant efforts to evaluate historic properties along the U.S. 70 corridor for National Register eligibility and to determine whether the Hondo Valley Project would adversely affect such properties. The FHWA performed extensive reviews prior to issuing the Final EIS and the ROD and adopted the Programmatic Agreement for the more limited purpose of analyzing determinations of effect on any previously unidentified cultural resources and potential impacts to identified cultural resources that may be affected by any design changes and construction activities. Aplts' App. vol. II, at 538. As detailed in the facts above, the agency issued a Draft EIS, a Cultural Resources Survey, and a Supplemental Draft EIS prior to publishing its final determination, consulting with the SHPO throughout the process. Thus, the District Court for the District of Columbia correctly concluded, [t]he agency has not postponed the entire section 106 process but has merely provided for the contingency that section 4(f)-properties may be discovered as the construction progresses. Valley Cmty. I, 231 F.Supp.2d at 34-35. This is very similar to the agency action that the D.C. Circuit upheld in City of Alexandria. Plaintiffs have failed to establish that the FHWA declined to follow the necessary procedural requirements by adopting the Programmatic Agreement and deferring the evaluation of certain properties until after the issuance of the ROD. 44