Opinion ID: 457947
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Purpose and Need Section

Text: 35 The proposed Parkway is premised on the need for transportation improvements in the east-west corridor. The GDOT and the FHWA found that current traffic service in the corridor is faulty in two respects: poor operation of major arterial routes and filtering of through-traffic onto neighborhood streets. The latter deficiency is a direct result of the former. Ponce de Leon Avenue, the major east-west artery, was found to have inadequate roadway geometrics for a state route due to the lack of continuity in the number of lanes and the narrow lane width. These roadway deficiencies, when coupled with high traffic volumes and traffic friction caused by commercial development on Ponce de Leon Avenue west of Moreland Avenue, contribute to operational problems. They further found that three major intersections--Ponce de Leon Avenue at Clifton Road, Moreland Avenue and North Highland Avenue--are operating at near capacity or under forced flow conditions during peak hours. The congestion at these intersections causes traffic to divert onto local streets. By providing an alternative east-west route, the state and federal agencies postulate that traffic conditions on Ponce de Leon Avenue west of the Parkway's terminus will improve markedly due to decreased traffic volumes. They also expect the Parkway to alleviate the filtering problem. Traffic on Ponce de Leon Avenue east of the Parkway terminus would increase by 32%, but they claim that this would be traffic currently using neighborhood streets. Traffic on Moreland Avenue/Briarcliff Road would increase between 15% and 67%; traffic on Briarcliff Road north of Ponce de Leon Avenue alone would increase by 47%. The state and federal defendants contend, however, that traffic service on this route would actually improve because of reductions in cross-street traffic and intersection improvements. 36 These defendants further apprehend a need to improve safety conditions in the corridor. Substandard roadway geometrics, severe congestion during rush hours and filtering of traffic onto neighborhood streets cause numerous accidents. The agencies found that Ponce de Leon Avenue's accident rate was many times higher than other urban state routes. They expect the Parkway to improve safety conditions by reducing traffic on Ponce de Leon Avenue and local streets. Although traffic east of the Parkway's terminus would increase, they predict that intersection improvements will prevent a major change in accident rates. 37 The plaintiffs-appellants challenge the district court's determination that the EIS adequately considered the traffic and safety data. 10 They assert that the purpose and need section of the statement did not provide a full and fair discussion of the traffic and safety justifications for the road because information was omitted that did not support the perceived need for the project. These omissions thereby prevented the federal decisionmaker from making an informed and objective decision. We address each consideration in turn. 38 (1) Traffic 39 Misrepresentation of the level of service (LOS) calculations 11 for three intersections along Ponce de Leon Avenue 12 is the first criticism of the EIS. William Johnson, a transportation planner for the GDOT, testified that his calculations yielded LOS D designations for two of the intersections, Clifton Road and North Highland Avenue. The draft EIS, however, rated all three intersections as LOS F, or forced flow. In response to the draft statement, the plaintiffs-appellants submitted a photographic survey of the various intersections in an effort to prove the incorrectness of the LOS calculations. Personal observations of the intersections by neighborhood residents allegedly confirmed their position that the intersections operated at acceptable levels. The final EIS did not assign a particular letter designation to each intersection; rather, it textually described the intersections as operating at near capacity or under forced flow conditions during peak hours. 13 40 Although Johnson made the mathematical calculations underlying the LOS designations, he did not actually assign the letter ratings. Record, Transcript Vol. I, at 130. Julia Bottin, Johnson's supervisor and the person responsible for preparing the purpose and need sections of the draft and final statements, reviewed the calculations, observed the intersections and drew her own conclusions as to the LOS designations. Bottin found that the intersections operated at LOS F, or forced flow, except Ponce de Leon Avenue and North Highland Avenue, which was rated at the upper limits of LOS D. Record, Transcript Vol. IV, at 40. Based on personal observations of the intersections and her own judgment, Bottin determined that the North Highland Avenue intersection should be designated as LOS F in the draft EIS. Id. at 41, 43. Extensive criticism of the traffic analysis prompted Bottin to reevaluate the data. Id. at 43. In the final EIS, she rated the North Highland Avenue intersection as operating at near capacity or forced flow conditions during peak hours. Bottin testified that she performed the analysis honestly and to the best of her ability. Id. at 44. 41 Contrary to the assertion of the plaintiffs-appellants, the district court order did not ignore the alleged discrepancies between GDOT's LOS calculations and the calculations ultimately assigned to the intersections. The court properly recognized that it could not designate itself as a super professional transportation analyst, see Movement Against Destruction v. Trainor, 400 F.Supp. 533, 549 (D.Md.1975), or decide which party utilized the better methodology in conducting its level of service analysis. Rather, the district court simply determined whether the appellees' choice of methodology had a rational basis, consistently applied, taking relevant considerations into account. After reviewing all the evidence, the district court concluded that the plaintiffs failed to show that the defendants' methods of making their computations were unreasonable. Our review of the record convinces us that this finding is not clearly erroneous. 42 The appellants next charge that the GDOT's method of calculating levels of service exaggerated congestion because it assumed a ninety-second signal cycle at each intersection. Level of service calculations performed by Mark Skrotzki, an expert on traffic engineering testifying for the plaintiffs, indicated that the intersections would operate at LOS D by using signal timing designed to optimize intersection performance. They maintain that the EIS is inadequate because it failed to disclose this fact. 43 We reiterate that the court is not a super professional transportation analyst charged with the duty of determining the propriety of competing methodologies. Our task is simply to determine whether the EIS furnishes the statutory minima required by NEPA. Johnson, the GDOT employee responsible for computing the mathematical calculations underlying the department's LOS values, testified that he used standard highway manuals and followed the same procedures he had utilized in previous projects in making his LOS calculations. Record, Transcript Vol. I, at 145, 148-51. While it may have been beneficial to include information on levels of service calculations performed using optimal signal performance, there is nothing in the record to demonstrate that Johnson's choice of a ninety-second cycle was unreasonable. 44 (2) Safety 45 The plaintiffs-appellants next urge that the EIS also distorted or concealed safety data which would undercut the purported justification for the Parkway. Specifically, they allege that the EIS only compared the accident rate of Ponce de Leon Avenue with state-wide averages for urban state routes, defined as all state roads in areas with a population of over 5,000 people. See 23 C.F.R. Sec. 470.103(b)(1) (1985). In their view, a more valid comparison with the accident rates of similar Atlanta roads would reveal that Ponce de Leon is actually a safe city artery. This assertion finds support in a summary of a 1980 briefing given to the Great Park Authority by the City of Atlanta. Plaintiffs' Exhibit 81. Second, they maintain that the EIS conceals the fact that intersections on Ponce de Leon Avenue have lower accident rates than intersections on similar roads in Atlanta and in Fulton and DeKalb Counties. In the district court, the opponents of the Parkway introduced data gathered from the Atlanta Police Department and Fulton and DeKalb County traffic engineers detailing the number of accidents at other Atlanta intersections. Plaintiffs' Exhibit 80, Attachment. The only Ponce de Leon Avenue intersection to rate among the worst in terms of accidents per year was Ponce de Leon and Juniper Street. This downtown intersection is outside the study area of the EIS. Third, the intersection accident rates contained in the EIS are distorted because they did not identify accidents caused solely by north-south traffic. Fourth, the EIS ignores safety concerns caused by an increase in traffic in areas outside the study area. As an example, appellants point to the failure of the EIS to mention the possible safety impacts on Briarcliff Road due to the 46% increase in traffic. Finally, the appellants point to the omission of GDOT's own data which shows that the majority of accidents on Ponce de Leon Avenue occur outside of peak periods. This evidence allegedly refutes the EIS's statement that Ponce de Leon Avenue is unsafe because of severe congestion during rush hours. The district court concluded that the evidence offered by the plaintiffs did not establish the unreasonableness of the defendants' consideration of the safety justification for the highway. 46 The EIS did contain a discussion of safety considerations. See, e.g., Final EIS, Vol. I, at 26-32, B-277 to B-286. 14 The section of the final statement detailing the purported safety hazards compared the accident rate for Ponce de Leon Avenue with statewide rates for urban state routes and with the average accident rates for urban state routes in Fulton and DeKalb Counties. Id. at 27-28. In addition, the document contained some discussion of the anticipated safety impacts on the section of Ponce de Leon Avenue east of the highway's terminus. Id. at 30, 32. 47 We again repeat the teachings of prior decisions binding on this court that NEPA does not mandate perfection in preparing an EIS. Sierra Club v. Morton, 510 F.2d at 820. We can overturn an administrative decision only if there are substantial procedural flaws, and not simply because we may disagree with the decision. Vermont Yankee, 435 U.S. at 558, 98 S.Ct. at 1219, 55 L.Ed.2d at 488 (emphasis supplied). Given these reminders of the limited scope of our review, we cannot say that the district court erred in finding that the EIS adequately addressed safety data.