U.S. Route 460 Corridor Improvements

Location Study info
What's new / what's next?
Overview
Alternatives considered
Study process
Public meetings
Documents

Route 460 home | Location Study summary | Location Study details | PPTA info

Location Study Details

Study Process

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is an important component of the Route 460 Location Study process. This process includes:

• Scoping: As the first phase in the location study process, this is an early and open process for determining the scope of issues to be addressed, and for identifying the significant issues related to the proposed improvements.
  
  Scoping helps identify the sensitive resources in the study area. It also serves as the basis for identifying and selecting alternatives.
   
• Purpose and Need: Provides the screening criteria and reason for the study.
  
  
• Alternatives Development: This consists of two components, Preliminary Alternatives and Candidate Build Alternatives (CBA).
  
  During this stage, the team does the following:
   
  • Develops Conceptual Alternatives to address the project needs
     
  • Screens the Conceptual Alternatives to produce a set of Candidate Build Alternatives
     
  • Defines a No-Build, Transportation System Management and Mass Transit Alternatives
    
    Since the February 2004 citizen information meetings, public and agency comments have been used to screen the Conceptual Alternatives. The CBAs have resulted from this screening process.

• Evaluation of Impacts: After the CBA’s have been identified, the study team will conduct a more detailed evaluation of environmental impacts. The resources analyzed for each CBA include, but are not limited to:
   
  • Air quality
  • Historic properties
  • Hazardous materials
  • Indirect impacts
  • Quality of wetlands and streams
  • Threatened and endangered species
  • Noise
  • Park, recreation and open space
  • Social and economic impacts
     
• Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS): Once the environmental impacts have been analyzed for each alternative, they are documented in a preliminary report, the DEIS, and circulated for public and agency review and comment prior to the public hearings.
  
  
• Location public hearings: The location public hearings are conducted once ample time has been given for the public and agencies to review the DEIS.
  
  After the public hearings are held and the comments are received on the DEIS, the CTB selects the preferred alternative.
  
  
• Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS): After the CTB selects their preferred alternative, the FEIS is prepared. The FEIS documents the action of the CTB, responds to substantive comments received from interested parties on the DEIS and is presented to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for their final decision.
   
• Record of Decision (ROD): The ROD is a public document that reflects FHWA’s decision. It includes the rationale behind that decision and commitment to monitoring and mitigation.