Environmental US Assessment

US 287 to Larimer County Road No. 3

Glossary April 2007

Glossary and List of Acronyms

AASHTO ASTM American Association of State Highway American Society for Testing and and Transportation Officials Materials

Action Alternative ATR The project alternative(s) that represents Automatic traffic recorders the proposed improvements BMP ACP Best Management Practice – common CDOT’s US 34 Access Control Plan sense actions, schedules of activities, Final Report, May 2003 prohibitions, and practices applicable to a variety of resources. For example, for ADT water quality issues, BMPs are used to Average daily traffic – the average two- control erosion and sedimentation and way traffic (number of vehicles) on a minimize pollution of stormwater runoff given highway over a 24-hour period. and receiving waters both during and Alternatives Analysis after construction. The process by which alternatives BNSF RR identified in the scoping process are Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad screened to determine how well each meets the project purpose and need. Capacity Alternatives that qualify after screening The maximum rate of traffic flow at which are included in the environmental vehicles can traverse a point of highway assessment for further analysis and in 1 hour. ultimately for the identification of the proposed alternative. CDOT Colorado Department of Transportation AMI Area median income CDPHE Colorado Department of Public Health APCD and Environment Air Pollution Control Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health CDPS and Environment (CDPHE) Colorado Discharge Permit System

APE CEQ Area of potential effect – the geographic Council on Environmental Quality – area or areas within which an established by the US Congress within undertaking may directly or indirectly the Executive Office of the President as cause alterations in the character or use part of the National Environmental Policy of historic properties, if any such Act of 1969. Additional responsibilities properties exist. were provided by the Environmental Quality Improvement Act of 1970.

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CFR CSS, a collaborative, interdisciplinary Code of Federal Regulations approach, involves all stakeholders in developing a transportation facility that CO fits its physical setting and preserves Carbon monoxide scenic, aesthetic, historic, and environmental resources, while CO2 maintaining mobility and safety. CSS is Carbon dioxide an approach that considers the total context within which a transportation COGCC improvement project exists. Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation CWA Commission Clean Water Act – the Federal Water Pollution Control Act enacted in 1972 by COGIS Public Law 92-500 and amended by the Colorado Oil and Gas Information Water Quality Act of 1987, which System prohibits the discharge of pollutants to waters of the US without a National Colorado State Highway Access Code Pollutant Discharge and Elimination The purpose of the Code is to provide System permit. Section 404 of the CWA procedures and standards to aid in the addresses protection of wetlands and management of the investment in the aquatic habitats from dredge and fill state highway system and to protect the activities. public health, safety and welfare, to dB maintain smooth traffic flow, to maintain Decibel – the unit used to measure the highway right-of-way drainage, and to intensity of a sound. protect the functional level of state highways while considering state, dB(A) regional, and local transportation needs A-weighted decibel – the unit used to and interests. measure “weighted” sound levels. Noise COLT levels are generally weighted to reflect the fact that the human ear responds City of Loveland Transit differently to sounds of various levels COP and frequencies. CDOT’s US 34 Corridor Optimization DMNS Plan Final Report, March 2003 Denver Museum of Nature and Science

CSS DMS Context sensitive solutions – originally Dynamic message sign called context sensitive design (CSD), the practice has evolved into context DOLA sensitive solutions (CSS) to represent Department of Local Affairs the multidimensional nature of the process, particularly the leading role of DOT the public and other stakeholders in Department of Transportation defining needs and crafting answers.

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EA Expressway Environmental assessment – a A multilane, divided highway designed to document prepared by a federal agency move large volumes of traffic at high under National Environmental Policy Act speeds under free-flow conditions with regulations to provide sufficient evidence full control of access. and analysis of a proposed project or action to determine whether to prepare FHWA an environmental impact statement or a Federal Highway Administration finding of no significant impact. Floodplain EAC An area adjacent to a stream or lake that Early Action Compact is inundated periodically by high flows.

EB FONSI Eastbound Finding of No Significant Impact – a decision rendered as the result of an EIS environmental assessment indicating Environmental impact statement that a proposed action has no significant environmental impacts that cannot be Endangered Species Act. appropriately mitigated. Legislation passed by Congress in 1973 FPPA to protect listed plant and animal species Farmland Protection Policy Act – and their habitats from harm. enacted in 1981 to minimize the extent to which federally funded projects EO contribute to the unnecessary and Executive Order irreversible conversion of farmland to nonagricultural uses. EOS GMA Environmental Overview Study Growth Management Area EPA Habitat US Environmental Protection Agency – the US agency responsible for controlling The environment in which an organism air pollution, water pollution, noise, lives; the arrangement of food, water, radiation hazards, pesticide hazards, cover, climate, and space suitable to solid waste disposal, and other potential meet the needs of an animal or a plant. risks to the natural environment. Hazardous Materials ESA Materials that pose a risk to human Environmental site assessment – a study health or the environment. used to determine whether any HOV hazardous substances are present on a property. High occupancy vehicle HUD US Department of Housing and Urban Development

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IGA structural controls, new development and Intergovernmental agreement redevelopment planning program, industrial facilities program, construction ITS sites program, and control of facility Intelligent transportation systems runoff program.

LCR MSATs Larimer County Road Mobile source air toxics

LOS NAAQS Level of service – a qualitative measure National Ambient Air Quality Standards of the operational characteristics of a traffic stream, ranked from A (best) to F NAC (worst). LOS is described in terms of Noise abatement criteria speed, travel time, freedom to maneuver, traffic interruptions, comfort, NB convenience, and safety. Northbound LUST NCEDC Leaking underground storage tank Northern Colorado Economic MBTA Development Corporation Migratory Bird Treaty Act NEPA MESA National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 – establishes policy, sets goals, Modified environmental site and provides a means for protecting the assessment – a less intensive ESA that environment in federal decision-making. generally includes a site visit, database Under NEPA, all federal agencies must review and a review of one key historical consider the environmental impacts of source. any proposed action that includes federal Mobility money or affects federal land and public input in relevant decisions. The Council The ability of traffic to move unimpeded on Environmental Quality regulations for through a highway or highway corridor. implementing NEPA are found in MP 43 CFR 1500–1508. Milepost NFR North Front Range MPO Metropolitan Planning Organization NFR MPO North Front Range Metropolitan Planning MS4 Organization Stormwater program for municipal separate storm sewer systems. NFRT & AQPC MS4 permits generally include North Front Range Transportation and stormwater management program Air Quality Planning Council requirements such as maintenance of

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NHPA oilseed crops as identified in the National Historic Preservation Act Farmland Protection Policy Act of 1981.

No Action Alternative Project Corridor The project alternative that represents In this document, the project corridor projected conditions in a study area includes the US 34 highway and without improvement; serves as a associated right-of-way only. baseline for comparing action alternatives. Project Termini In this document, the project termini are NPDES US 287 on the west and LCR 3 on the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination east. System Purpose and Need NRHP The underlying reason for conducting National Register of Historic Places environmental studies and analysis; the purpose and need to which the agency is OAHP responding by proposing alternative Office of Archaeology and Historic solutions. Preservation REA PCB Rural Electric Association Polychlorinated biphenyl Receptor PEM A term used in noise analysis to refer to Palustrine persistent emergent a site or location potentially subject to noise impacts. A noise receptor can PIP represent a single building, multiple Public involvement program structures, or an area.

PM2.5 Regionally Significant Corridor Particulate matter of 2.5 microns or less Defined by the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization as PM10 “an important link in a multi-modal, Particulate matter of 10 microns or less regional network comprised of existing or new transportation corridors that connect Preferred Alternative communities and/or activity centers by The alternative identified by means of the facilitating the timely and safe movement environmental assessment process as of people, goods, information and the action recommended to meet the services.” purpose and need of a project. Right-of-Way Prime Farmland A general term denoting land, property, Soil units with the best combination of or interest in same; usually a strip physical and chemical characteristics to acquired for or devoted to transportation produce feed, food, forage, fiber, and purposes.

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SAFETEA-LU These properties are commonly referred Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient to as 4(f) properties. Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, which was signed into law on Section 6(f) August 10, 2005. SAFETEA-LU replaced Properties that are defined under the Transportation Equity Act for the Section 6(f)(3) of the Land and Water Twenty-First Century (TEA-21). With Conservation Fund Act signed into law guaranteed funding for highways, on September 3, 1964. These properties highway safety, and public transportation consist of publicly owned land, including totaling $244.1 billion, SAFETEA-LU parks and recreation areas purchased or represents the largest surface improved with monies from the Land and transportation investment in US history. Water Conservation Fund, and are intended to remain in use for public SB recreation in perpetuity. Southbound SH Scoping State Highway An open public process initiated at the beginning of an environmental SHPO assessment to help identify the relevant State Historic Preservation Officer agencies’ and public’s concerns and recommended solutions. SIMTRAFFIC A type of traffic analysis software. Screening (Alternatives Analysis) A systematic process in which a broad SMARTTrips™ range of alternatives is narrowed down to The carpooling and vanpooling program those that best meet the goals of a that is a division of the North Front project based on the project’s purpose Range Transportation and Air Quality and need, and on key issues and Planning Council. concerns related to the study area. Alternatives that pass through the Study Area screening process are taken through In this document, an area wider than the environmental assessment to identify a corridor and associated with a particular preferred alternative. resource. The study area varies with the resource being analyzed. Section 4(f) Properties that are defined under SWMP Section 4(f) of the Department of Stormwater management plan Transportation Act of 1966 (49 USC 303). DOT regulations explicitly Synchro/Sim Traffic state that the Secretary of Transportation Traffic analysis software for modeling, cannot approve the acquisition of publicly optimizing, managing, and simulating owned land from a park, recreation area, traffic systems or wildlife refuge, or land from a national, state, or local historic site unless no TAZ feasible and prudent alternative exists. Traffic analysis zone

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TES Wetland Threatened and endangered species – a An area sufficiently inundated by surface classification of plant and animal species water or groundwater to support a listed in the Endangered Species Act. predominance of vegetation adapted for Endangered species are in danger of life in saturated soil conditions (bogs, becoming extinct; threatened species are ponds, estuaries, and marshes). in danger of being listed as endangered. TIP WHI Transportation Improvement Program – Weighted hazard index – a statistic a prioritized program of transportation computed by considering accident projects to be implemented in frequency, accident severities (injuries appropriate stages over 3 to 5 years as and fatalities), traffic volume within a set forth in Department of Transportation section, length of the section, and a joint regulations for transportation comparison with the accident history of programming. The projects are similar highways. Positive WHI values recommended from those in the indicate highway sections that have an transportation systems management accident frequency/severity history element and the long-range element of higher than the statewide average. the planning process. Participation in this Negative WHI values indicate highway program is required as a condition for a sections that have frequency/severity locality to receive federal transit and history lower than the statewide average highway grants. WQCC TNM Water Quality Control Commission Traffic Noise Model

UCM University of Colorado Museum

UPRR Union Pacific Railroad

USFWS United States Fish and Wildlife Service

VMT Vehicle miles traveled

WB Westbound

WCR Weld County Road

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