E7-18299. Agency Information Collection Activities: Notice of Request for Extension of Currently Approved Information Collection

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) to renew an information collection. We published a Federal Register Notice with a 60-day public comment period on this information collection on July 2, 2007. We are required to publish this notice in the Federal Register by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES:

Please submit comments by October 18, 2007.

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-2007-29228.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mr. Ralph Gillmann, 202-366-0160, Office of Highway Policy Information, Office of Policy and Governmental Affairs, Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590. Office hours are from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: Preparation and Execution of the Project Agreement and Modifications.

OMB Control Number: 2125-0529 (expiration date September 30, 2007) .

Background: Formal agreements between State Transportation Departments and the FHWA are required for Federal-aid highway projects. These agreements, referred to as “project agreements” are written contracts between the State and the Federal government that define the extent of work to be undertaken and commitments made concerning a highway project. Section 1305 of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21, Pub. L. 105-178) amended 23 U.S.C. 106(a) and combined authorization of work and execution of the project agreement for a Federal-aid project into a single action. States continue to have the flexibility to use whatever format is suitable to provide the statutory information required, and burden estimates for this information collection are not changed.

Respondents: There are 56 respondents, including 50 State Transportation Departments, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Territories of Guam, the Virgin Islands and American Samoa.

Frequency: On an on-going basis as project agreements are written.

Estimated Average Annual Burden per Response: There is an average of 476 annual agreements per respondent. Each agreement requires 1 hour to complete.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 26,656 hours.

Electronic Access: Internet users may access all comments received by the U.S. DOT Dockets 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.

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

Issued on: September 12, 2007.

James R. Kabel,

Chief, Management Programs and Analysis Division.