Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) |
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METRO and the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) use a shared computer-based tool to forecast future usage of the highway and ridership on various transit services, such as local buses, commuter buses and light rail. This computer-based tool, also called a travel model is a mathematical representation of how travel occurs in this region today and how it will change in the future. How does the travel model work? The travel model has four major components and each component performs a certain type of calculation. All these components work together like a machine. The first two components determine:
The last two components determine:
Click here to read more details on travel modeling. What is a scoping meeting? The purpose of the scoping process is to determine the scope of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to ensure that issues are identified early and properly studied. The end result of scoping is to ensure that the draft EIS produced for public review and comment is thorough and balanced. The scoping process should identify concerns of both the agencies and the affected public and should clearly define the environmental issues and alternatives to be examined in the EIS. If there are important environmental or social impacts that the public wants considered, the time to raise these issues is at the scoping meeting. If there are alternatives to be considered, the scoping meeting is the place to ask that they be analyzed. If there are concepts for minimizing environmental harm that the public would like to see evaluated, these alternatives should be raised at the scoping meeting. In this way, the EIS can be structured to better address public and agency concerns and help lead to better decisions in the end. What exactly is the NEPA Process? The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a United States environmental law signed on January 1, 1970 by U.S. President Richard Nixon. The law applies only to federal agencies and the programs they fund. It requires that prior to taking any "major" or "significant" action, the federal agency must consider the environmental impacts of that action. Full disclosure of the potential impacts of a federal action before it is taken helps keep the decision-making process open, honest, transparent and cooperative. The Metropolitan Transit Authority (METRO) receives funding from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and is required to follow NEPA in planning, design and construction of capital proposed projects. The law requires an environmental impact statement (EIS) to be prepared for all major federal actions which may have a significant impact on the environment. If a major federal action will not have a significant impact on the environment, the agency may prepare a shorter document called an "Environmental Assessment" (EA). EISs and EAs are documents prepared to aid in decision making, the same way a person would use a consumer report guide to make an informed decision before investing in a car. These documents explore feasible alternatives to a proposed action, and the likely environmental consequences of those actions. Impacts to the physical, biological and social environment are among the consequences considered and assessed in the document. METRO is currently in the process of preparing EISs for the proposed federally funded GRT corridors. METRO is also preparing an EA for its proposed Intermodal Terminal. Public participation is an important element of the NEPA process. The sponsoring federal agency must involve the public by providing them notice of and allowing them to comment on proposed actions. The objective of the public involvement process is to ensure that stakeholder concerns are heard and that the resulting project has broad public involvement. METRO has been inviting neighborhood groups, businesses, property owners, residents, public officials, the driving public, and others who have an interest in understanding METRO's current studies, the respective schedules, and the issues to numerous public meetings during the NEPA process. Click here to view a step-by-step outline of the process. What is a corridor? The term "corridor" is defined by the Texas Department of Transportation as "a broad geographical band with no predefined size or scale that follows a general directional flow connecting major sources of trips. It involves a nominally linear transportation service area that may contain a number of streets, highways, and transit route alignments." Click here to visit the Texas Department of Transportation's Glossary. Why can't I see the images of the METRO Solutions NewsFlash I get in my e-mail? For security reasons, many email clients block images in emails by default. This keeps SPAMMERS who place uniquely identifying invisible images into SPAM messages from harvesting a list of working email addresses. Most internet service providers (including Yahoo's web-based email access, Gmail, and Hotmail) allow you to select "Always View Images from [address]" (where address is the sender's email address) and will not block images by default from that sender after you click that link. If the problem persists, try viewing NewsFlash online. Do you have a specific question that is not answered here? Submit your questions and comments to a METRO Representative by clicking here.
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