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Public Information Notice #4
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA),
Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), Chicago Department of
Transportation (CDOT) and Association of American Railroads (AAR) have
agreed to modifications to the Chicago Region Environmental and
Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) Program in response to changing
needs. In particular, much of the Central Corridor, as defined in the
original CREATE Feasibility Plan & Preliminary Screening (FP&PS), is
no longer required. Major portions of the southern half of the
Central Corridor are being retained, however, to provide an alternate
route for freight trains, in order to free up capacity on the existing
route (over the NS Chicago Line) for Amtrak trains from New Orleans
and Carbondale into Chicago Union Station, while minimizing impacts to
Amtrak and freight service already using this line. These
improvements are now part of the P4 project. Also, the C5
project has been largely retained and is now known as the WA7 project.
The rationale for these changes is that the CN has an alternate route
available and no longer requires the Central Corridor. Amendment 1 to the CREATE Final Feasibility Plan
and Preliminary Screening Documents was approved on November 9, 2009
by the Federal Highway Administration- Illinois Division Office and
was posted on the CREATE website on November 16, 2009. Early in the progression of the CREATE Program,
the FHWA developed a program-specific environmental strategy, known as
the SPEED Strategy, for the CREATE Program.
Integral components of the SPEED Strategy are the Feasibility
Plan and Preliminary Screening (FP&PS) documents.
The FP&PS documents were prepared and published in lieu of
preparing and publishing a Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement for
the CREATE Program. Revisions to the CREATE program are governed by
United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) procedures.
During implementation of the CREATE program, FHWA recognized
that some revisions were small and the overall impact was minor and
easily discerned. Consequently, more than one process for documenting
these revisions was established.
A major revision would be considered an FP&PS amendment while a
minor one would be considered a FP&PS modification.
These terms are also used in the planning process for changes
to a Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP), and the concept is
similar. A third process
is also available to accommodate emergency revisions where time is
critical and the revisions may occur due to unforeseeable events. Follow this
link
to see Amendment 1
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