E7-2458. Agency Information Collection Activities: Notice of Request for Extension of Currently Approved Information Collection

AGENCY:

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT.

ACTION:

Notice of Request for Extension of Currently Approved Information Collection.

SUMMARY:

The FHWA invites public comments about our intention to request the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval for renewal of an existing information collection that is summarized below under Supplementary Information. We are required to publish this notice in the Federal Register by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES:

Please submit comments by April 16, 2007.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments identified by DOT DMS Docket Number FHWA-2007-26977 by any of the following methods:

• Web site: http://dms.dot.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments on the DOT electronic docket site.
• Fax: [phone]
• Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Nassif Building, Room PL-401, Washington, DC, 20590-0001.
• Hand Delivery: Room PL-401 on the plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to http://dms.dot.gov at any time or to Room 401 on the plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Bob Bini, 202-366-6799, or Cynthia Hatley, 202-493-0426, Office of Federal Lands Highway, Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, 20590. Office hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: Federal Lands Highway Program.

OMB Control #: 2125-0598.

Background: Title 23 U.S.C. 204 requires the Secretary of Transportation and the Secretary of each appropriate Federal land management agency to develop, to the extent appropriate, safety, bridge, pavement, and congestion management systems for roads funded under the Federal Lands Highway Program (FLHP). A management system is a process for collecting, organizing, and analyzing data to provide a strategic approach to transportation planning, program development, and project selection. Its purposes are to improve transportation system performance and safety, and to develop alternative strategies for enhancing mobility of people and goods. This data collection clearance addresses the management systems for the National Park Service (NPS) and the Park Roads and Parkways (PRP) Program; Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Indian Reservation Roads (IRR) Program; Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the Refuge Roads (RR) Program; and Forest Service (FS) and the Forest Highway (FH) Program.

Outputs from the management systems are important tools for the development of transportation plans and transportation improvement programs, and in making project selection decisions consistent with 23 U.S.C. 204. Further, management system outputs also provide important information to the FHWA for their stewardship and oversight roles for the Park Roads and Parkways, Indian Reservation Roads, Refuge Roads, and Forest Highway Programs. The data collection required to implement these management systems supports the DOT Strategic Objectives of Safety, Mobility, Environmental Stewardship, and Organizational Excellence. The proposed data collection also directly supports the FHWA's Vital Few Initiative of Safety, Congestion Mitigation, and Environmental Stewardship and Streamlining that represent the three most important strategic planning and performance goals for the agency.

The National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Forest Service are continuing to implement the required management systems and the associated information collections. Completion of this phase-in of the management systems is expected to occur during the time period covered by this information collection, and the average annual burden estimates are based on expected increases in the overall burden over that time period. The management systems vary in complexity among the four agencies and reflect differences in the characteristics of the transportation systems involved such as size, ownership, and eligibility for inclusion in the program. These variations result in differences among the agencies in the expected number of respondents to the information collection, and in the anticipated time necessary to respond to the information collection.

Typical information that might be collected for the management systems includes:

• Traffic information including volumes, speeds, and vehicle classification;
• Pavement features such as number of lanes, length, width, surface type, functional classification, and shoulder information; and pavement condition information such as roughness, distress, rutting, and surface friction;
• Bridge features such as deck width, under/over-clearance, details of structural elements such as girders, joints, railings, bearings, abutments, and piers; and information on the condition of the bridge elements sufficient to describe the nature, extent, and severity of deterioration;
• Safety information such as crash records, crash rates, and an inventory of safety appurtenances such as signs and guardrails; or
• Congestion measures such as roadway level of service or travel delay.

Respondents to the information collection might be collecting and submitting information in one or more of these categories for the portion of their transportation system that is covered under the FLHP. For example, this might include the collection and submission of these types of information for State or county-owned roads that are Forest Highways, or Indian Reservation Roads owned by Indian Tribal Governments. Typically, the respondents would collect information each year on a portion of their system. Burden estimates have been developed using this assumption combined with an estimate of the time needed to collect and provide the information.

Respondents: The estimated average annual number of respondents for the management systems for each of the agencies addressed by this information collection is: NPS management systems—35 States and 40 Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), regional transportation planning agencies, counties, local or tribal governments. BIA management systems—35 States and 50 MPOs, regional transportation planning agencies, counties, local or tribal governments. FWS management systems—35 States and 40 MPOs, regional transportation planning agencies, counties, local or tribal governments. FS management systems—35 States and 50 MPOs, regional transportation planning agencies, counties, local or tribal governments.

Frequency: Annual.

Estimated Average Annual Burden per Response: NPS management systems—Approximately 40 hours per respondent. BIA management systems—Approximately 60 hours per respondent. FWS management systems—Approximately 20 hours per respondent. FS management systems—Approximately 60 hours per respondent.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: Total estimated average annual burden is 14,700 hours.

Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of this information collection, including: (1) Whether the proposed collection is necessary for the FHWA's performance; (2) the accuracy of the estimated burdens; (3) ways for the FHWA to enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the collected information; and (4) ways that the burden could be minimized, including the use of electronic technology, without reducing the quality of the collected information. The agency will summarize and/or include your comments in the request for OMB's clearance of this information collection.

Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35, as amended; and 49 CFR 1.48.

Issued On: February 7, 2007.

James R. Kabel,

Chief, Management Programs and Analysis Division.