2014-07079. Limitation on Claims Against a Proposed Public Transportation Project

AGENCY:

Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

This notice announces final environmental actions taken by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for a project in Montgomery County and Prince George's County, MD. The purpose of this notice is to announce publicly the environmental decisions by FTA on the subject project and to activate the limitation on any claims that may challenge these final environmental actions.

DATES:

By this notice, FTA is advising the public of final agency actions subject to Section 139(l) of Title 23, United States Code (U.S.C.). A claim seeking judicial review of FTA actions announced herein for the listed public transportation project will be barred unless the claim is filed on or before August 28, 2014.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Nancy-Ellen Zusman, Assistant Chief Counsel, Office of Chief Counsel, [phone] or Terence Plaskon, Environmental Protection Specialist, Office of Human and Natural Environment, [phone]. FTA is located at 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590. Office hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Notice is hereby given that FTA has taken final agency actions by issuing certain approvals for the public transportation project listed below. The actions on the project, as well as the laws under which such actions were taken, are described in the documentation issued in connection with the project to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and in other documents in the FTA administrative record for the project. Interested parties may contact either the project sponsor or the relevant FTA Regional Office for more information on the project. Contact information for FTA's Regional Offices may be found at http://www.fta.dot.gov.

This notice applies to all FTA decisions on the listed project as of the issuance date of this notice and all laws under which such actions were taken, including, but not limited to, NEPA [42 U.S.C. 4321-4375], Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act of 1966 [49 U.S.C. 303], Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act [16 U.S.C. 470f], and the Clean Air Act [42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q]. This notice does not, however, alter or extend the limitation period for challenges of project decisions subject to previous notices published in the Federal Register. The project and actions that are the subject of this notice are:

Project name and location: Purple Line Project, Montgomery County and Prince George's County, MD. Project sponsor: Maryland Transit Administration (MTA). Project description: The proposed project is a 16.2-mile east-west light rail transit (LRT) line between the Bethesda Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Metro Station in Montgomery County and the New Carrollton WMATA Metro Station in Prince George's County, Maryland. The LRT line will be at-grade except for one short tunnel section and three sections elevated on structures. It will operate mainly in dedicated or exclusive lanes. System elements also include 21 stations, two storage and maintenance facilities, 20 traction power substations, 14 signal bungalows, and other ancillary facilities. Final agency actions: Section 4(f) de minimis impact determination; a Section 106 Programmatic Agreement, dated March 14, 2014; project-level air quality conformity; and Record of Decision (ROD), dated March 19, 2014. Supporting documentation: Final Environmental Impact Statement, dated August 2013.

Issued on: March 25, 2014.

Lucy Garliauskas,

Associate Administrator Planning and Environment.