[Federal Register: December 23, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 246)]
[Notices]
[Page 78267-78268]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr23de02-109]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Highway Administration
Environmental Impact Statement/Alternatives Analysis: Westchester
and Rockland Counties, NY, Tappan Zee Bridge/Interstate-287 Corridor
AGENCIES: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit
Administration (FTA), United States Department of Transportation
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an Alternatives Analysis (AA) and
an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the I-287 Corridor between
Suffern, New York (Rockland County) and Port Chester, New York
(Westchester County). Included within the corridor is the Tappan Zee
Bridge.
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SUMMARY: FHWA and FTA, in cooperation with the New York State Thruway
Authority (NYSTA) and the Metro-North Railroad, a subsidiary of the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA/MNR), will prepare an AA and
an EIS for the I-287 Corridor in Westchester and Rockland Counties, NY,
which includes the Tappan Zee Bridge, the Corridor's most important
infrastructure element. The FTA and FHWA are the federal lead agencies
under NEPA and the NYSTA and MTA/MNR are the project sponsors. The AA
and the DEIS are being prepared in accordance with the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended, and implemented by
the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations (40 CFR parts
1500-1508), the FTA/FHWA Environmental Impact regulations (23 CFR part
771), and the FTA/FHWA Statewide Planning/Metropolitan Planning
regulations (23 CFR part 450). This study will also comply with the
requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as
amended, section 4(f) of the 1966, U.S. Department of Transportation
Act, the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, the Executive Order 12898 on
Environmental Justice, and other applicable statutes, rules, and
regulations. The EIS and the environmental review process will also
satisfy requirements of the New York State Environmental Quality Review
Act (SEQRA); this Notice of intent eliminates the need for a positive
declaration under that statute.
The purpose for the study is to identify and evaluate alternative
multimodal highway and transit proposals to address the transportation
needs of the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor (the project). The study
will also take into account the structural needs of the Tappan Zee
Bridge, as well as other existing infrastructure in the Corridor. The
AA will document the identification, evaluation and screening of a
large number of possible actions to produce a reasonable range of
alternatives that meet the proposed Project's purpose and need. The
DEIS (which will incorporate the findings of the AA) will then document
the evaluation of those identified alternatives in terms of their
environmental impacts and other relevant factors as compared to a
baseline case (i.e., the No Build alternative). A preferred
alternative(s) will be identified in a Final EIS (FEIS).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Arnold, Division Administrator,
Federal Highway Administration, New York Division, Leo W. O'Brien
Federal Building, 7th Floor, Clinton Avenue and North Pearl Street,
Albany, New York, 12207. Telephone: (518) 431-4127; or Irwin B.
Kessman, Director of Planning and Program Development, Federal Transit
Administration, One Bowling Green, Room 429, New York, NY 10004
Telephone: (212) 668-2177; or Christopher A. Waite, Executive Project
Manager, New York State Thruway Authority, 200 Southern Boulevard,
Albany, NY 12209. Telephone: (518) 436-3190; or Janet M. Mainiero,
Deputy Project Manager, MTA Metro-North Railroad, 347 Madison Avenue,
New York, NY 10017. Telephone: (212) 340-4085.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
1. Scoping
FHWA and FTA invite interested individuals, organizations, and
federal, state, and local agencies to provide comments on the scope of
the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor AA/EIS. Comments should suggest
alternatives that meet the Project's transportation goals and
objectives and have the potential to reduce environmental impacts.
Comments should also focus on specific environmental issues and other
relevant factors that should be evaluated during the course of the
Project.
To assist interested parties in formulating their comments, a
scoping information packet has been prepared and is available upon
request from the FHWA, FTA, NYSTA, or MTA/MNR representatives
identified above or online at the project's Web site (www.tzbsite.com).
The information packet includes the project's purpose and need, goals
and objectives, a preliminary list of alternatives, and environmental
areas that will be addressed during the course of the study. An outline
of the public participation program is also contained in the
information packet.
Three public scoping meetings will be conducted, one each in
Westchester, Rockland, and Orange Counties, to solicit public comments
on the scope of the AA/DEIS. Each scoping meeting will run from 4-9
p.m. and consist of an informal open house setting and two formal
presentations. Formal presentations will be made at 4:30 p.m. and again
at 6:30 p.m. after which comments will be received in the group forum.
Those wishing to speak must sign up by 8:45 pm. A court reporter will
be available to record the formal meeting and public comments. The
public scoping meetings will be held in the following locations:
Westchester County Public Scoping Meeting: Tuesday, January 14,
2003, Sleepy Hollow High School, 200 North Broadway, Sleepy Hollow, NY
10591.
Rockland County Public Scoping Meeting: Wednesday, January 15,
2003, Adler Room, Palisades Mall, 1000 Palisades Center, West Nyack, NY
10994.
Orange County Public Scoping Meeting: Thursday, January 16, 2003,
Orange County Community College, 115 South Street, Middletown, NY
10940.
The public comment period will be open for a minimum of 45 days
following the January 16 meeting. Comments will be accepted until March
4, 2003.
The project sponsors will also conduct two governmental agency
scoping meetings, one each in New York City and Albany, to solicit
input and comments from local, state and federal agencies. The agency
meetings will be held at the following times and locations:
January 21, 2003, 2-4 p.m., MTA/MNR Headquarters, 347 Madison
Avenue, New York, NY 10017.
January 22, 2003, 1-3 p.m., New York State Thruway Authority, 200
Southern Boulevard, Albany, NY 12209.
2. Description of the Project Area and Transportation Needs
The Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor extends from the I-287/I-87
interchange in Suffern to the I-287/I-95 interchange in Port Chester
for approximately 30 miles through Rockland and Westchester Counties.
The Corridor includes the lifeline 3.1 mile-long Tappan Zee Bridge
crossing of the Hudson River, and encompasses a critical section of the
New York State Thruway, as well as the entire Cross Westchester
Expressway (CWE). The Corridor intersects all five of MNR's commuter
rail lines (Port Jervis, Pascack
[[Page 78268]]
Valley, Hudson, Harlem and New Haven). However, MNR's commuter rail
lines in the Corridor are all oriented north and south and none cross
the Hudson River.
The Tappan Zee Bridge opened to traffic in 1955 and carried an
average of 18,000 vehicles daily. Today, approximately 135,000 vehicles
cross the bridge on an average weekday, with volumes as high as 170,000
vehicles on some peak days. During the past 20 years, traffic volumes
have grown significantly in the Corridor, by over 50 percent on the CWE
and by more than 70 percent on the Tappan Zee Bridge. As a result, the
Corridor experiences varying levels of traffic congestion throughout
its 30-mile length. The steady increase in traffic demand over the
years, together with only limited increases in roadway capacity and a
paucity of east-west modal alternatives, have resulted in continual
increases in travel time and delay. These problems are most acute in
the vicinity of the Tappan Zee Bridge itself during the eastbound
morning and westbound evening peak periods. This congestion is
projected to worsen, detrimentally affecting mobility and the economic
health and quality of life in the Corridor.
In addition to addressing the mobility needs in the Tappan Zee
Bridge/I-287 Corridor, the Project will also address the structural
needs of the Tappan Zee Bridge, the Corridor's most important
infrastructure element.
3. Alternatives Being Considered
Based on previous studies, as well as numerous public meetings
convened to discuss the matter, a preliminary list of alternatives has
been developed to address the mobility and structural needs of the
Corridor. The potential alternatives identified to date, which are
expected to be supplemented during the public scoping process, have
been organized into four broad categories as follows:
[sbull] Transportation Demand/System Management Strategies: these
are generally lower cost management strategies intended to impact
travel demand, choice of travel mode, or time of travel; or actions to
improve the overall efficiency of the existing transportation system.
[sbull] New/Improved Transit Services: these are generally actions
to improve existing transit services or add new ones that do not
require the construction of major new transportation infrastructure in
the Corridor.
[sbull] River Crossing Improvements: these include all of the
various proposals put forward to rehabilitate or replace the existing
Tappen Zee Bridge with improved roadway and transit facilities. Bridge,
tunnel, and combination bridge and tunnel solutions have been
suggested.
[sbull] Corridor Improvements: these are the various proposals to
upgrade and/or add new transportation infrastructure elsewhere in the
Corridor such as new commuter rail, light rail or guided busway.
All alternatives will include maintaining the Interstate highway
link. Through a process of technical evaluation and public input, the
relatively large number of alternatives developed in the early stages
of the AA's program will be reduced to a smaller set considered most
likely to achieve the Project's goals and objectives. The reduced set
of alternatives will be evaluated in the DEIS along with the No Build
alternative.
4. Probable Effects
Impacts of the final set of Tappen Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor-wide
alternatives will be evaluated in the DEIS will summarize the results
of coordination with federal, state, and local agencies; present the
appropriate federal, state, and local regulations and policies;
inventory and compile previous studies; describe the methodology used
to assess impacts; identify the affected environment; predict and
analyze the construction-related (short-term) and operational (long-
term) impacts (direct, indirect, and cumulative) of reasonable
alternatives; and identify opportunities and measures for mitigating
significant adverse impacts.
[sbull] Specific scopes for the environmental studies to be
conducted for the DEIS will be established during the public and agency
scoping process. The DEIS analysis will cover relevant aspects of the
natural and human environment expected to be affected by each
alternative.
5. FHWA/FTA Procedures
Upon completion, the AA, and subsequently the DEIS, will be
available for public and agency review and comment. Public hearings
will be held on the DEIS within the study area. On the basis of the AA/
DEIS and the public and Agency comments, a preferred alternative will
be selected and fully described in the FEIS. Following completion of
the FEIS a Record of Decision (ROD) will be issued by the federal lead
agencies.
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Number 20.205,
Highway Research, Planning and Construction. The regulations
implementing Executive Order 12372 regarding intergovernmental
consultation on Federal programs and activities apply to this
program.)
Authority: 23 U.S.C. 315; 23 CFR 771.123
Dated: December 13, 2002.
David W. Nardone,
Senior Operations Engineer, Federal Highway Administration, Albany, New
York.
[FR Doc. 02-32258 Filed 12-20-02; 8:45 am]
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