Environmental Impact Statement: Kake Access, AK

Robert B. Lale III
Federal Highway Administration
January 22, 2013

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 14 (Tuesday, January 22, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4586-4587]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-01161]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Highway Administration


Environmental Impact Statement: Kake Access, AK

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: The Western Federal Lands Highway Division of the Federal 
Highway Administration (FHWA) is issuing this notice to advise the 
public that FHWA will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 
for a proposed transportation project to improve access to and from the 
community of Kake in Southeast Alaska.
    Public Involvement: Opportunities for public involvement will be 
provided during the scoping process, public meetings, and a public 
hearing. Letters describing the proposed action and soliciting comments 
will be sent to appropriate Federal, State, and local agencies, Tribal 
governments, and to private organizations and citizens who have 
previously expressed or are known to have interest in this project. To 
ensure that the full range of issues related to this proposed action is 
addressed and all significant issues are identified, comments and 
suggestions are invited from all interested parties.
    Public Scoping Meetings will be held in the early Spring of 2013 to 
receive oral and written comments on environmental concerns that should 
be addressed in the EIS. The public scoping meetings will be held at 
dates, times, and locations to be published in general circulation 
newspapers in the project area.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Traffalis at FHWA, 610 East 
5th Street, Vancouver, WA 98661; Kake-AccessEIS@dot.gov or 360-619-
7787. A project-specific Web site will also be developed, which will 
also accept public comments, please go to www.wfl.fhwa.dot.gov/projects/ak/kake/for further updates.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The FHWA, in cooperation with ADOT&PF, will 
prepare an EIS on a proposal to address the need for an improved 
transportation system for access to and

[[Page 4587]]

from the community of Kake in Southeast Alaska. In its 2004 Southeast 
Alaska Transportation Plan (and 2011 SATP Scoping Report and updates as 
posted at http://dot.alaska.gov/sereg/projects/satp/index.shtml, 
ADOT&PF identified the need to improve the transportation system 
between Southeast Communities, including the need to provide local 
access for the community of Kake to a major transportation and 
commercial hub. This EIS will be coordinated with the Kake to 
Petersburg Transmission Intertie EIS, which is also in progress. The 
Western Federal Lands Highway Division of FHWA will be the lead federal 
agency for the Kake Access EIS.
    Currently, Kake is accessible by mainline ferry twice a week and by 
scheduled air taxi service to Juneau and Sitka and chartered aircraft 
to Petersburg. Preliminary alternatives were identified during the 
transportation planning phase, and will be evaluated during development 
of the EIS. These alternatives include:
    (1) The Northern Corridor alternative, which begins in Kake and 
reconstructs segments of logging roads and constructs new road segments 
to extend a roadway that terminates in the City of Kupreanof across 
Wrangell Narrows from downtown Petersburg;
    (2) The Intertie corridor alternative, which connects Kake with 
Petersburg by following one of the alternatives being considered in the 
Transmission Intertie EIS;
    (3) The Southern Corridor alternative to Kah Sheets Bay, which 
follows existing mainline logging roads south from Kake before 
diverging along a new alignment to Kah Sheets Bay where ferry service 
would provide access to Mitkof Island and Petersburg, Prince of Wales 
Island and Ketchikan, or Wrangell;
    (4) The Southern Corridor alternative to Totem Bay, which includes 
upgrading existing mainline logging roads and construction of new 
roadway south from Kake to Totem Bay where ferry service would provide 
access to Mitkof Island and Petersburg, Prince of Wales Island and 
Ketchikan, or Wrangell; and (5) the Kake Ferry Service Improvement 
alternative would improve direct ferry service between Kake and Juneau, 
Sitka, or Petersburg using existing Alaska Marine Highway Service 
ferries and ferry terminals or by adding a new ferry to better serve 
the community.
    The EIS also will evaluate the No Action alternative.

    Authority: 23 U.S.C. 315; 49 CFR 1.48.

    Issued on: January 15, 2013.
Robert B. Lale III,
Director of Project Delivery, Western Federal Lands Highway Division, 
Federal Highway Administration.
[FR Doc. 2013-01161 Filed 1-18-13; 8:45 am]
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