EIS Process

Alternative Analysis and Screening Process

EIS Process

The East Corridor EIS follows a process outlined by the National Environmental Policy Act. It is designed to ensure that reasonable transportation alternatives are considered, that community input plays a key role, and that the environmental and community impacts are fully disclosed. The process includes:

Community Outreach
A continuous community outreach process is integrated into every step of the project to ensure that the corridor residents, businesses, the traveling public and other interested parties have an opportunity to have meaningful participation in the process.

1. Scoping - Issues and concerns are solicited from the various agencies, the community, and others. Scoping activities have included door-to-door questionnaire, block meetings, neighborhood meetings, business meetings, and corridor meetings.

2. Purpose and Need - Using the input from scoping, data gathering, and technical analysis, a purpose and need statement is developed. It serves as the basis for the alternative development, screening, and environmental evaluation.

3. Evaluation Criteria - Working with the community, agencies, and other stakeholders, criteria are developed to compare the numerous alternatives that will be considered.

4. Alternative Development - A full-range or “master list” of alternatives, including previous and current proposals, and new ideas from the community and stakeholders will be developed for consideration.

5. Alternative Screening - Once the “master list” has been developed, the alternatives are screened using the previously established criteria to eliminate those that are not reasonable and do not meet the purpose and need.

6. Draft EIS (DEIS) Evaluation - The alternatives that make it through the screening process are fully evaluated in the DEIS. The DEIS is an official document issued during the process and includes a detailed analysis of the social, environmental, and economic impacts of the alternatives.

7. Formal Public Comment on DEIS - Following the release of the DEIS, the public will have a chance to review and comment on the DEIS. During this period, a public hearing(s) is held to present the information and encourage formal comments.

8. Final EIS (FEIS) - After incorporating and addressing the public and agency comments, additional analysis is conducted to develop the FEIS.

9. Formal Public Comment on FEIS - Following the release of the FEIS, the public will have a chance to review and comment on the FEIS. During this period, a public hearing(s) is held to present the information and encourage formal comments.

10. Record of Decision (ROD) - After receiving public and agency comments and providing responses, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) issues a ROD formalizing the official decision on the Preferred Alternative.

Alternative Analysis and Screening Process

As part of the analysis, a four-step process was used to reduce the master list of alternatives to a handful that will receive full evaluation in the DEIS. Additional information on alternative analysis can be found in the Alternative Development and Screening Process Presentation. Alternatives will be evaluated on each level based on the evaluation criteria determined from the project purpose, need, goals, and objectives.

1. Initial Screening - A series of yes or no questions were used during initial screening to evaluate alignments, station locations, and technologies to each other within categories. Alternatives not eliminated in initial screening were then refined and evaluated in comparative screening.

2. Comparative Screening - Comparative screening continued to look at transit alignments and technologies relative to themselves within categories to determine if some were clearly better than others were. A qualitative (good/better/best) approach was used to determine the alternatives within each category that were more effective at meeting the purpose and need.

3. Detailed Screening - Alignments, station locations, and technologies remaining after comparative screening, were combined to create several different corridor-wide transit alternatives for analysis in detailed screening. A quantitative (measure-based) analysis was used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the various alternatives.

4. Alternative Refinement - Alternatives that remained following detailed screening were developed in more detail and further analyzed as part of alternative refinement. The evaluation was more in depth than the detailed screening analysis and was used to determine the alternatives most responsive to the project purpose and need. This fourth level of screening considered engineering feasibility; potential effects on social, environmental, and economic resources; and an analysis of capital, operation, and maintenance costs.

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