Action
Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
Summary
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA), in cooperation with the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit (MARTA), is issuing this notice to advise interested agencies and the public that, in accordance with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be prepared for an expansion of transit services westward from MARTA's Hamilton E. Holmes Station on its West Line to a logical terminus on Fulton Industrial Boulevard. Identified by MARTA's Board of Directors as the top priority for expansion of services, possible rail extensions and other types of transit service are outlined in MARTA's "Three Corridor Feasibility Study" (August 2000). As a part of an Alternatives Analysis and the ensuing EIS, the benefits and impacts of eighteen individual alternatives, including a no-build or no-action alternative, a transportation system management (TSM) alternative (also called New Starts Baseline alternative) and several build alternatives, will be examined. Scoping will be accomplished through coordination with interested persons, organizations, and federal, state and local agencies. FTA is serving as the federal lead agency for the project in anticipation of a grant application from MARTA for its construction through the Federal Section 5309 New Starts Program. Based on the results of the scoping process, FTA will establish the scope of the environmental review under NEPA, including the identification of environmental issues and effects to be addressed and reasonable alternatives to be retained for detailed evaluation. If a need to expand the study area west into Cobb and Douglas County can be demonstrated during the scoping process and if a project sponsor other than MARTA can be identified for that portion of the project, this NEPA undertaking will be accordingly augmented.