Action
Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement.
Summary
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and Hampton Roads Transit (HRT) intend to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 for the proposed Peninsula Rail Transit Project to provide rail service to the Peninsula region of Hampton Roads. In addition to meeting the requirements of NEPA, the NEPA process will be used to comply with the requirements of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments; the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended; section 4(f) of the 1966 U.S. Department of Transportation Act; the Executive Order 12898 on Environmental Justice; and all other applicable laws, regulations, and executive orders. A Major Investment Study (MIS) for the Peninsula Corridor was completed in 1997, adopting Light Rail Transit as the Preferred Alternative. In 2001, Hampton Roads Transit (HRT) initiated an Alternatives Analysis study (AA) to update the MIS by evaluating a range of transit alignments and potential transit system extensions. HRT, with extensive coordination from the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC) serving as the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), municipalities, local and State agencies, community and business stakeholders, and the public, identified ten potential alignments and two rail technologies (Light Rail Vehicles [LRV] and Diesel Multiple Units [DMU]) for further evaluation. The evaluation recommended a Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) that was formally adopted in Spring 2003 by the HRPDC serving as the MPO, York County, James City County, and the Cities of Williamsburg, Newport News, and Hampton. The LPA consisted of a rail transit corridor between Williamsburg and downtown Newport News (including the Southeast Community of Newport News) generally along the CSX railroad right-of- way, including and connecting with a rail transit corridor generally along Hampton Roads Center Parkway to downtown Hampton. The LPA Report available for public review from HRT as described below in SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION documents the initial results of the Alternatives Analysis study. Because of the large regional scale of the LPA (a 32-mile corridor), HRT proposed phased implementation for the LPA beginning with an initial phase that is commonly referred to as a Minimum Operable Segment (MOS). Five alternative initial phases or MOSs were discussed with the municipalities beginning in summer 2003. Based upon agreed upon evaluation criteria and other factors such as special trip generator locations, two MOSs have been selected to be carried forward for study in the EIS. The technologies under consideration for these two MOSs include LRV and DMU. FTA will require that the initial phase have logical termini and independent utility so that it does not prejudice the consideration of alternatives in subsequent phases or a decision to forego subsequent phases completely. Six alternatives are proposed to be addressed in the EIS: a No- Build Alternative, a Transportation Systems Management Alternative, Light Rail Transit (LRT) operating on two alternative MOSs, and DMU operating on the same two MOSs. Any other reasonable alternative emerging from the scoping process will also be given consideration unless the earlier studies mentioned above have already provided justification for its elimination. Scoping activities will include public meetings and an agency scoping meeting during the months of April and May 2004.