Salem River Crossing Project EIS Public Involvement Summary
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DRAFT Salem River Crossing Project EIS Public Involvement Summary Prepared for Oregon Department of Transportation July 2016 Prepared by Contents Section Page Acronyms ............................................................................................................................................ v Executive Summary .................................................................................................................... ES-1 1 Prior to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement ..................................................... 1-1 1.1 Milestone 1: Management Structure and Decision Process ................................. 1-1 1.1.1 Decision-Making Structure ....................................................................... 1-1 1.1.2 Agency Coordination ................................................................................. 1-1 1.1.3 Public Involvement .................................................................................... 1-4 1.1.4 Participating and Cooperating Agency Input ........................................ 1-5 1.2 Milestone 2: Purpose and Need ............................................................................... 1-5 1.2.1 Agency Coordination ................................................................................. 1-5 1.2.2 Public Involvement .................................................................................... 1-6 1.3 Milestone 3: Establish Evaluation Framework ...................................................... 1-8 1.3.1 Agency Coordination ................................................................................. 1-8 1.3.2 Public Involvement .................................................................................... 1-8 1.4 Milestone 4: Develop Range of Alternatives .......................................................... 1-9 1.4.1 Agency Coordination ................................................................................. 1-9 1.4.2 Public Involvement .................................................................................. 1-10 2 Draft Environmental Impact Statement Phase .............................................................. 2-1 2.1 Milestone 5: Screen Alternatives for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement ....................................................................................................... 2-1 2.1.1 Agency Coordination ................................................................................. 2-1 2.1.2 Public Involvement .................................................................................... 2-2 2.1.3 Key Issues and Themes.............................................................................. 2-4 3 After the Draft Environmental Impact Statement ......................................................... 3-1 3.1 Milestone 6: Preferred Alternative .......................................................................... 3-1 3.1.1 Agency Coordination ................................................................................. 3-1 3.1.2 Public Involvement .................................................................................... 3-2 3.2 The Selection of the “Salem Alternative” ............................................................... 3-5 3.2.1 Agency Coordination ................................................................................. 3-5 3.2.2 Public Involvement .................................................................................... 3-6 4 References ............................................................................................................................. 4-1 SALEM RIVER CROSSING PROJECT EIS PAGE III PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT SUMMARY CONTENTS (CONTINUED) Appendixes A Background B Study Area Refinement C Decision-Making Structure and Process D Purpose and Need Statement E Public Involvement Materials (on CD) F Agency Involvement G Evaluation Framework Tables 2-1 Key Issues/Themes and How They Were Addressed in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement ..................................................................................... 2-4 2-2 Issues Beyond the Scope of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement ................... 2-6 Figure 1-1 Decision-Making Structure ................................................................................................ 1-2 SALEM RIVER CROSSING PROJECT EIS PAGE IV PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT SUMMARY Acronyms CD compact disk CETAS Collaborative Environmental and Transportation Agreement for Streamlining CH2M CH2M HILL DEIS Draft Environmental Impact Statement DLCD Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development EPA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency FEIS Final Environmental Impact Statement FHWA Federal Highway Administration MPO Metropolitan Planning Organization NEPA National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 NMFS National Marine Fisheries Service ODFW Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife ODOT Oregon Department of Transportation ODSL Oregon Department of State Lands OR 22 Oregon State Route 22 Oregon DEQ Oregon Department of Environmental Quality SAFETEA-LU 6002 Section 6002 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users SHPO Oregon State Historic Preservation Office SKATS MPO Salem-Keizer Area Transportation Study Metropolitan Planning Organization USACE U.S. Army Corps of Engineers USFWS U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service SALEM RIVER CROSSING PROJECT EIS PAGE V PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT SUMMARY Executive Summary Purpose of this Report This summary outlines the public and agency involvement that occurred during the Salem River Crossing Project. It recaps all outreach conducted before and during the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) phase of the project, as well as the outreach done after publishing the DEIS on April 20, 2012 (Federal Highway Administration [FHWA], Oregon Department of Transportation [ODOT], and City of Salem, 2012). This summary also outlines the selection of the preferred alternative. Public involvement is an ongoing effort for the agencies involved and will continue until construction of the project is completed. Outreach activities are documented and organized by project development milestone and detailed documentation is included in the appendices following the Public Involvement Summary narrative. Location The Salem River Crossing Project is located in the mid-Willamette Valley in northwestern Oregon. The Willamette River bisects the city of Salem and defines the boundary between Marion County on the east side of the river and Polk County on the west side. A portion of Salem is situated on the west side of the Willamette River in Polk County and is referred to as West Salem. Currently, the sole river crossing in this area is the Marion Street/Center Street Bridge complex. The Marion Street Bridge contains four westbound travel lanes, which provide access to the local street system in West Salem via Wallace Road and Edgewater Street and to westbound Oregon State Route 22 (OR 22). The Center Street Bridge contains four eastbound travel lanes, providing access to downtown Salem via Center Street and Front Street. Public Involvement Process To direct community input at key project NEPA milestones (referred to as “decision points”), a structured decision-making process was established at the project outset. An Environmental Justice Outreach Plan (updated in 2012) was developed at the onset of the project to ensure that the public was actively involved during each decision point. These major decisions points are: 1. Management Structure and Decision Process 2. Define Purpose and Need 3. Establish Evaluation Framework 4. Develop Range of Alternatives 5. Alternatives for the EIS 6. Select Preferred Alternative The first four decision points included public notice of input opportunities, public meetings, and stakeholder briefings. This effort is listed under the “Prior to DEIS” section of this Public Involvement Summary. SALEM RIVER CROSSING PROJECT EIS PAGE ES-1 PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT SUMMARY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The last two decision points included all outreach efforts completed after publication of the DEIS and the process that culminated in the identification of the project preferred alternative presented in the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). SALEM RIVER CROSSING PROJECT EIS PAGE ES-2 PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT SUMMARY SECTION 1 Prior to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement Prior to the development of the DEIS, the Salem River Crossing Project conducted a scoping process, which was focused around the first four decision milestones of the project. Appendix A includes background information, including the Executive Summary of the Willamette River Bridgehead Engineering Study (Salem-Keizer Area Transportation Study Metropolitan Planning Organization [SKATS MPO], 1998) and the Executive Summary of the Willamette River Crossing Capacity Study, General Corridor Evaluation (SKATS MPO, 2002). Appendix B includes the Study Area Refinement Memorandum (CH2M HILL [CH2M], 2006). 1.1 Milestone 1: Management Structure and Decision Process This first decision milestone ensured agreement on the process to be used throughout the project, as well as the roles, responsibilities, and membership of the various participating groups. The goal was to create a logical path through a complicated project by establishing major decision points (or milestones), as outlined in the Decision-Making Structure and Process Memorandum (Appendix C). At each decision point, all of the project stakeholder groups