FTA Publishes Notice On Three Projects in Indiana, Illinois, and Texas

FTA

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has published a notice detailing the environmental actions taken on three projects in Indiana, Illinois, and Texas.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has published a notice detailing the environmental actions taken on three projects in Indiana, Illinois, and Texas. Its purpose is to “publicly announce the FTA’s environmental decisions on the subject projects, and to activate the limitation on any claims that may challenge these final environmental actions.”

The first project is the East Campus Expansion in Indianapolis, Indiana. It deals with the acquisition of the 9625 East 33^rd Street property “by IndyGo located immediately adjascent to the Existing East Campus . . . [and] will expand the Existing East Campus to provide capacity to meet current and future fleet needs, and to provide operational efficiencies for further implementing the Marion County Transit Plan.” The East Campus Expansion will include a bus operator training track, maintenance facility, fleet terminal, and an operations center, as well as expanding the surface parking that meets ADA requirements. The final agency actions are as stated: “Section 106 No Historic Properties Affected determination dated March 13, 2023, and determination of the applicability of a categorical exclusion pursuant to 23 CFR 771.118(d), dated June 12, 2023.” More information can be found here.

The second project is the Metra UP North Rebuild from Fullerton to Addison in Chicago, Illinois. It deals with the modernization of Metra’s Union Pacific North Line. The work will seek to replace eleven bridges (that are 120 years old) and retaining walls from Fullerton Avenue to Cornelia Avenue. It will also “shift tracks west between Fullerton Avenue and Addison Street to align with the existing tracks north and south of the Project area and the Roscoe Street and Cornelia Avenue will be lowered to maintain current clearance under the roadway and the Chicago Transit Authority Brown Line.” Additionally, the project work includes refurbishing the Lincoln/Addison bridge. The final agency actions are as stated: “Section 106 No Adverse Effect determination dated July 15, 2022, and determination of the applicability of a categorical exclusion pursuant to 23 CFR 771.118(d), dated June 21, 2023.” More information can be found here.

The third project is the Silver Line Project in Tarrant, Dallas, and Collin Counties, Texas. The project includes a 26-mile double-track commuter line from the Dallas International Airport (DFW) to Shiloh Road in Plano, Texas. This will travel across the cities of Grapevine, Coppell, Dallas, Carrollton, Addison, Richardson, and Plano. The “FTA issued a combined Final Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision” in November 2018 and a notice of limitation on claims in March 2019. The Federal Transit Administration has re-evaluated the project a number of times since 2019 “to address changes resulting from design modifications and stakeholder coordination.” In November 2022, the FTA published a notice of limitation on claims for “memoranda to file phases A to E.” The final agency actions state that the “FTA determined for each re-evaluation that neither a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement nor a Supplemental Environmental Assessment is necessary, and the November 2018 FEIS/ROD remains valid.” Supporting documents can be found here.