Kammy Horne, AICP. Austin, Texas

Transcription

1 Environmental Review of Transit and Rail Projects by FHWA and State Departments of Transportation Kammy Horne, AICP Manager, NEPA and Regulatory Planning AECOM, Americas Transportation Austin, Texas

2 Key Presentation Take-Aways Considerations for Project Management when rail/transit projects are lead or co lead by Departments of Transportation How do new changes in legislation and policy affect the NEPA landscape? What issues can arise and how can these be anticipated?

3 3 Environmental Review of Transit and Rail Projects by FHWA and State Departments of Transportation Kammy Horne, AICP Manager of NEPA and Regulatory Planning AECOM Americas Transportation APTA Rail Conference Tuesday June 21, 2016

4 4 Background and Trends Affecting Environmental Process Changing planning and environmental legislation, policy, and guidance for FRA, FHWA, and FTA Delegation of Authority Planning and Environmental Linkages as a tool for FHWA and FTA Increasing use of grant funding Emphasis on Categorical Exclusions More multimodal plans and projects

5 5 Project Example Capital Metro s Downtown Station Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) grant funding $22M for a permanent downtown station to replace existing TxDOT has Delegation of Authority from FHWA Initial considerations-how to progress with the NEPA process?

6 6 Project Example Capital Metro s Downtown Station continued Categorical Exclusion-for FTA could be (c) (8) maintenance, reconstruction, or rehabilitation of facilities or (9) assembly or construction of facilities

7 7 Project Example-Capital Metro s Downtown Station continued FHWA: (d)(9) Rehabilitation or reconstruction of existing rail and bus buildings and ancillary facilities where only minor amounts of additional land are required and there is not a substantial increase in the number of users. Project was developed as an open ended d list Categorical Exclusion.

8 8 Perspectives from Wisconsin DOT Chicago - Milwaukee Intercity Passenger Rail Corridor Environmental Assessment and Service Development Plan Increasing daily Amtrak Hiawatha Service frequencies from the current seven round-trips to 10 round-trips Reducing travel times, potentially through an increase in maximum speed to 90 MPH between Rondout, Illinois, and the General Mitchell International Airport (GMIA)

9 9 Perspectives from Wisconsin DOT continued Challenges: Initially changes in FRA guidance during PRIIA and ARRA caused process shifts. Project moved from a Tiered document to a project-level EA Environmental staff at Wisconsin DOT needed to learn and understand FRA NEPA requirements (different from FHWA) Required the Department to understand the contract needs/changes due to the unpredictability of the major railroad stakeholders Ongoing and Future Solutions: Incorporation of flexibility into scopes of work Account for contingencies where possible Anticipate educational needs for new staff-staff that is new to FRA procedures Involve FRA early and include them on every team meeting

10 10 Washington State DOT, Sound Transit, FTA, FHWA A Long History of Collaboration Issue Papers that specifically focused on areas of potential differences and overall considerations (environmental and other processes) such as: Air Quality Wetland Mitigation Section 106 Environmental Justice Circulation of Environmental Documents

11 11 Issue Paper Highlights Topic Air Quality Wetland Mitigation Section 106 Compliance Issue For projects that comply with air quality standards on the date of opening but where modeling shows there will be an air quality violation sometime thereafter, must appropriate mitigation be provided at the time the project is built to address the future air quality problem or can the mitigation be deferred until such time as it is actually needed? How should the WSDOT s goal of no net loss of wetland acreage be implemented for Sound Transit projects? For Sound Transit projects with co-lead federal agencies (FTA/FHWA), what is the series of process steps that will need to be followed in complying with Section 106 regulations?

12 12 Issue Paper Highlights continued Topic Environmental Justice Methodology Circulation of Environmental Documents among FHWA, FTA, ST and WSDOT Issue How should environmental justice be incorporated into the environmental review process under Executive Order and Department of Transportation s Order to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations? How Environmental documents will be made available among ST, WSDOT, FTA, FHWA? Issue Papers are still in use today!

13 13 Questions for Consideration in Project Scoping Who is the project sponsor/lead agency or agencies? Is there an agency delegation of authority? Determine the Class of Action being considered and how is that decision being documented? Who needs to be involved and when? Are there delegations of authority for key areas of coordination? What regulations will be followed and are there differences? What level of project information and design is required? What particularly sensitive issues could arise and are there differences in evaluation? Noise Air Quality Environmental Justice Section 106 What are the Public Involvement Requirements?

14 14 Recommendations for Success Start early-communicate often. Understand the expected schedule and requirements to stay on schedule. Identify role or roles of each lead agency. Discuss expectations. And finally: In regards to the environmental process there is much value that comes from the simple process of sitting down and talking about what processes/standards lie ahead

15 15 Thank You to All Who Provided Input! Arun D. Rao, AICP Passenger Rail Implementation Manager Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Rails and Harbors Section Daniel Drais Environmental Protection Specialist Federal Transit Administration, Region X

16 Thank You Kammy Horne, AICP Manager of NEPA and Regulatory Planning AECOM Americas Transportation