Apache Trail Project
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Apache Trail Project In Cooperation with Arizona Department of Transportation and Tonto National Forest AZ FLAP SR 88(1) MARICOPA COUNTY, AZ ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT/ DRAFT INDIVIDUAL 4(F) EVALUATION Prepared By: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration Central Federal Lands Highway Division Lakewood, Colorado May 13, 2021 This page intentionally left blank U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration Central Federal Lands Highway Division In Cooperation with Arizona Department of Transportation and Tonto National Forest ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT/DRAFT INDIVIDUAL 4(f) EVALUATION Submitted Pursuant to: (Federal) 42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(c) for Apache Trail Project AZ FLAP SR 88(1) Maricopa County, AZ Additional information may be obtained from the following individuals: Dustin Robbins Kurtis J. Harris Project Manager Assistant SE District Engineer Federal Highway Administration Arizona Department of Transportation 12300 West Dakota Avenue, Suite 380 PO Box 2717 Lakewood, CO 80228 Globe, Arizona 85502 [email protected] [email protected] ____________________________ __________________05/13/2021 Curtis Scott, P.E. Date FHWA-CFLHD, Chief of Engineering This page intentionally left blank EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This Environmental Assessment (EA) documents the impact studies for a proposed project to improve the Apache Trail Roadway. The Federal Highway Administration, Central Federal Lands Highway Division (CFLHD), in cooperation with the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) and the United States Forest Service, Tonto National Forest (TNF), has been planning roadway improvements to 11.20 miles of State Route (SR) 88, the Apache Trail, between mileposts (MP) 229.20 and 240.60, Maricopa County, Arizona. The project is located on TNF lands and an ADOT easement crossing TNF lands. Recent disaster events resulted in significant damage to this roadway facility that affected the preliminary ongoing design. Funding for the project is through the Federal Lands Access Program (FLAP), in conjunction with a local funding match as well as supplemental funding from the Emergency Relief (ER) program as detailed below. FHWA-CFLHD is the lead federal agency for this project and is designing and constructing the project. The Apache Trail is a 42‐mile, winding historic road that links Apache Junction with Roosevelt Lake through the Superstition Mountains and TNF. The Apache Trail is paved from Apache Junction to approximately MP 220, while the remainder of the road is unpaved until just west of Theodore Roosevelt Dam and the junction of Apache Trail and SR 188. The proposed improvements would begin at MP 229.2 and extend approximately 11.16 miles east‐northeast to MP 240.6. Within the project limits, the roadway surface consists of decomposed granite (DG), which requires frequent blading to maintain an effective surface. Contractor staging and use areas are proposed to occur within the ADOT right of way or in previously disturbed areas. On June 8, 2019, the human-caused Woodbury Fire began in the Superstition Wilderness near the Woodbury Trailhead. This Forest Service land is full of rugged terrain with virtually no access which limited the ability of firefighters to safely confront the fire on land. Over the course of the summer, the fire grew burning a total of 123,875 acres. Within Tonto National Monument, 88% (989 acres) of the land was burned. Although previous fires had burned small sections of the Monument, this was the largest in recorded history. Large and severe wildfires present a major threat to watershed health, because they can impair watershed condition, alter hydrologic and geomorphic processes, and ultimately degrade water quality. Wildfires can lead to changes in flow regimes, flood frequency, erosion, and debris flows. Wildfires can also lead to significant changes in stream water chemistry, and post-fire sediment-driven transport can lead to increases in contaminant loads. The historic Woodbury Fire reached full containment in the summer of 2019. However, on September 23, 2019 and November 19, 2019 severe thunderstorms originating from the remnants of Tropical Storms Lorena and Raymond respectively moved over the project area for the Apache Trail project. Excessive rainfall over this denuded and degraded watershed resulted in significant flooding of the Apache Trail roadway. Much of the roadways drainage features, many which were historic character defining features for the Apache Trail (SR 88), were damaged or destroyed. The Apache trail has qualified for funding under the Emergency Relief program. Congress authorized in Title 23, United States Code (U.S.C.), Section 139(1), a special program from the Highway Trust Fund for the repair or reconstruction of Federal-aid highways and roads on Federal lands which have suffered serious damage as a result of (1) natural disasters or (2) catastrophic failures from an external cause. This program, commonly referred to as the emergency relief or ER program, supplements the commitment of resources by States, their political subdivisions, or other Federal agencies to help pay for unusually heavy expenses resulting from extraordinary conditions. In response to changing hydraulic conditions and recent failure events, the FHWA-CFLHD in partnership with the ADOT and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) reassessed the ongoing design approach to the Apache Trail project. Damage to the roadway surface, embankments, culverts and other drainage features have been documented within the project limits. Within the project limits, the scope of the proposed activities would include, roadway paving; replacing, repairing, upsizing, extending and/or cleaning roadway culverts; placement of decomposed granite aggregates to reestablish roadway crown and drainage paths; standardizing roadway width; cutting back slopes to improve line of sight distance; removing decomposed aggregate berms along roadway margins; general maintenance activities; various culvert treatments; and installation of erosion control elements, consisting of constructing gabion baskets in existing roadway ditches and placing rip-rap within existing drainage channels. The total cost of the project is estimated at $13.4 million. What’s in this Document WHAT’S IN THIS DOCUMENT The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Central Federal Lands Highway Division (CFLHD), in cooperation with Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) and Tonto National Forest (TNF), has prepared the Apache Trail Project Environmental Assessment (EA), which examines the potential environmental impacts of the alternatives being considered for a 11.16-mile section of the Apache Trail located within TNF, Arizona. This document describes why the Apache Trail Project is being proposed, alternatives for the project, the existing environment that could be affected by the project, the potential impacts from each of the alternatives, and the proposed avoidance, minimization and/or mitigation measures. What You Should Do . In accordance with 23 CFR 771.119 this EA will be available for public review and comment for 30-days. Please read this document by accessing the project’s web site: https://highways.dot.gov/federal-lands/projects/az/apache-trail. Or you can access via ADOT’s web site at https://azdot.gov/projects/southeast-district-projects or TNF’s web site at https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/tonto/alerts-notices. We welcome your comments. If you have any comments about the proposed project, please send your written comments to: Dustin Robbins Project Manager, FHWA-CFLHD 12300 West Dakota Ave, Suite 380 Lakewood, Colorado 80228 or by e-mail to: [email protected]. Before including a personal address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information in written comments, anyone providing written comment should be aware their entire comment – including their personal identifying information – may be made publicly available at any time. While anyone wishing to comment may ask the FHWA-CFLHD in their comment to withhold their personal identifying information from public review, the FHWA-CFLHD cannot guarantee it will be able to do so. Send comments by the deadline: June 19, 2021 For individuals with sensory disabilities, this document can be made available in Braille, large print, on audiocassette, or on computer disk. To obtain a copy in one of these alternate formats, please call, email or write to Dustin Robbins at 720-963- 3586, [email protected] or 12300 West Dakota Ave., Suite 380, Lakewood, CO 80228. i APACHE TRAIL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT What Happens Next After comments are received from the public and reviewing agencies, CFLHD, in cooperation with ADOT and TNF, will respond to comments, prepare the final environmental decision document and may: (1) give environmental approval to the proposed project, (2) conduct additional environmental studies, or (3) abandon the project. If the project is given environmental approval, part, or all, of the project can be designed and constructed after all of the required permits or agreements are obtained. Following public and agency review of the EA, FHWA-CFLHD in coordination with ADOT and TNF, will update the environmental analysis, if necessary, in response to comments received during the 30-day public review of the EA. Mitigation measures may be replaced with equal or more effective measures prior to project approval. If the impacts of the proposed project remain less than significant, then CFLHD will conclude the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process