19970093 Ver 1_More Info Received_20090130

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GTPftd^ccm NC Department of Transportation Rail Division
North Carolina Global Transpark Rail Access
PROJECT UPDATE -January 30, 2009
The Global TransPark Rail Access Project is progressing on schedule Many mayor planning and
environmental project milestones are behind us and the project is beginning to focus on the details
of construction and ensuring the project continues to minimize impacts to the environment
Environmental Analysis Process
On December 22" , 2008 the Environmental Assessment (EA) document for the project was
approved and signed by the Federal Highway Administration, the lead reviewing agency With this
action, a mayor project milestone has been met and completing the environmental process is at
hand The EA document has been distributed for review and comments to all project stakeholders
and it is available at several locations to the public including the Global TransPark headquarters
Two mayor milestones remain for the environmental process the final public hearing and completion
of the much anticipated Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) document The public hearing is
scheduled for February 19th from 5 00-7 00 PM at the TransPark Center located at the Global
TransPark In addition, a local officials meeting is scheduled for the same date and location for 3 30
to 4 30 PM The FONSI document will address stakeholder and public comments from the public
hearing and those received during review of the EA document It should be noted that further
investigation for archeological sites and for threatened and endangered species has resulted in a
determination that these resources will not be impacted by the project These findings will be
summarized in the FONSI, expected to be complete by May 2009
An important pre-permit application meeting, organized by the NC DEHNR and the Army Corp of
Engineers, was held on January 26th to brief the affected natural resource regulatory agencies on
the project and to gather input and answer questions With this meeting, the permit process has
begun in earnest, allowing another critical project element to progress on schedule
Project Design
Comments on the 25 percent complete plans were received from mayor reviewers, such as NCDOT
Division of Highways and the railroads, by the first week in January These comments were not
significant in nature and were incorporated as necessary into the plans Project design is now
progressing to the 60 percent plans level and will be distributed for review next week These plans
will be finalized at the end of February following receipt of comments Plans will then be advanced
to the 75 percent level by the end of March, the level necessary to fully acquire property to construct
the new rail line
Next Steps
The right-of-way acquisition phase for the project is beginning this month with extensive property
research Following the public hearing and development of plans in March, NCDOT right-of-way
agents will begin making initial contacts with property owners The property acquisition phase is
expected to last until March 2010 Development of final plans and bid package will run concurrently
with this phase, ensuring that construction can begin on schedule next year
Thank you again for your assistance and continued coordination with our project team If you have
any questions, please feel free to call me at 919-715-7894 or email at jorthner@ncdot gov
Jason T Orthner, P E
GTP Rail Access Project Manager