E6-14068. Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments for New Information Collection  

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    AGENCY:

    Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT.

    ACTION:

    Notice and request for comments.

    SUMMARY:

    The FHWA has forwarded the information collection request described in this notice to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval of a new information collection. We published a Federal Register Notice with a 60-day public comment period on this information collection on June 19, 2006. We are required to publish this notice in the Federal Register by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

    DATES:

    Please submit comments by September 25, 2006.

    ADDRESSES:

    You may send comments within 30 days to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, 725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503, Attention DOT Desk Officer. 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 burden; (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. All comments should include the Docket number FHWA-2006-25676.

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    FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

    Mr. Chien-Tan Chang, Office of Bridge Technology, HIBT-1, (202) 366-6749, Fax (202) 366-3077, or e-mail chien-tan.chang@dot.gov. For legal questions, please contact Mr. Robert Black, Office of the Chief Counsel, (202) 366-1359, robert.black@fhwa.dot.gov; Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590. Office hours are from 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., e.t. Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

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    SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

    Title: Innovative Bridge Research and Deployment (IBRD) program.

    Background

    Congress established the Innovative Bridge Research and Construction (IBRC) program, the predecessor of the IBRD program, in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) (Pub. L. 105-178). The IBRC program was continued in SAFETEA-LU, but was renamed as the IBRD program. Funds are provided to the States under the IBRD program to pay the Federal share of the cost of projects that demonstrate innovative accelerated bridge design and construction technology and the application of innovative material technology in the repair, rehabilitation, replacement, or new construction of bridges and other highway structures. For each of the fiscal years 2005 through 2009, approximately $13.1 million will be available. For FY 2006, approximately $2.2 million is available for the IBRC program, and approximately $5.1 million for the IBRD program after reduction of funds pursuant to the Departments of Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, and the District of Colombia, independent Agencies Appropriations Act 2006 (Pub. L. 109-115, Nov 30, 2005) the Department of Defense, Appropriations Act 2006, (Pub. L. 109-148, Dec. 30, 2005), and Sec. 5202(b)(3)(B) of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). The IBRD activities include identification and selection of candidate projects from 50 State DOTs, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, which meet one or more goals of the program as established by the Congress. Approximately 25 projects will be selected that meet one or more program goals as follows:

    A. The development of new, cost-effective, innovative highway bridge applications;

    B. The development of construction techniques to increase safety and reduce construction time and traffic congestion;

    C. The development of engineering design criteria for innovative products, materials, and structural systems for use in highway bridges and structures;

    D. The reduction of maintenance costs and life-cycle costs of bridges, including costs of new construction, replacement or rehabilitation of deficient bridges; Start Printed Page 50115

    E. The development of highway bridges and structures that will withstand natural disasters;

    F. The documentation and wide dissemination of objective evaluations of the performance and benefits of these innovative designs, materials, and construction methods;

    G. The effective transfer of resulting information and technology; and,

    H. The development of improved methods to detect bridge scour and economical bridge foundation designs that will withstand bridge scour.

    Additional activities include collection of project information, documentation, promotion and wide dissemination of objective evaluations of the performance and benefits of these innovative designs, materials, and construction methods resulting from the project studies.

    Respondents: 50 State Departments of Transportation, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

    Frequency: Annual.

    Estimated Average Burden per Response: 1 hour.

    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: It is estimated that a total of 100 responses will be received to give us a total annual burden of 100 hours.

    Electronic Access: Internet users may access all comments received by the U.S. DOT Dockets, Room PL-401, by using the universal resource locator (URL): http://dms.dot.gov,, 24 hours each day, 365 days each year. Please follow the instructions online for more information and help.

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

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    Issued on: August 18, 2006.

    James R. Kabel,

    Chief, Management Programs and Analysis Division.

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    [FR Doc. E6-14068 Filed 8-23-06; 8:45 am]

    BILLING CODE 4910-22-P

Document Information

Published:
08/24/2006
Department:
Federal Highway Administration
Entry Type:
Notice
Action:
Notice and request for comments.
Document Number:
E6-14068
Dates:
Please submit comments by September 25, 2006.
Pages:
50114-50115 (2 pages)
Docket Numbers:
Docket No. FHWA-2006-25676
PDF File:
e6-14068.pdf