Designation of Transportation Management Areas

AGENCIES:

Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT.

ACTION:

Notice of designation.

SUMMARY:

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) are announcing that all urbanized areas (UZAs) with populations greater than 200,000 as determined by the 2000 Census, are hereby designated as Transportation Management Areas (TMAs). The FTA and the FHWA are taking this action in compliance with the agencies' authorizing statutes, 23 U.S.C. 134, and 49 U.S.C. 5305. This action supersedes the agencies' designations of TMAs made in the Federal Register on May 18, 1992, at 57 FR 21160.

DATES:

This notice is effective July 8, 2002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

For FTA related questions, Paul L. Verchinski, Office of Planning Operations (TPL-11), (202) 366-1626, Federal Transit Administration, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20590. e-mail: Paul.verchinski@fta.dot.gov. Scott Biehl, Office of Chief Counsel (TCC), (202) 366-4063, Federal Transit Administration, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20590. e-mail: scott.biehl@fta.dot.gov. Office hours for the FTA are from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

For FHWA related questions, Sheldon Edner, Office of Metropolitan Planning (HEPM), (202) 366-4066, Federal Highway Administration, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20590. e-mail: sheldon.edner@fhwa.dot.gov. Reid Alsop, Office of Chief Counsel (HCC), (202) 366-1371, Federal Highway Administration, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20590. e-mail: reid.alsop@fhwa.dot.gov. Office hours are from 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Titles 23 and 49 of the United States Code (23 U.S.C. 134 (i), and 49 U.S.C. 5305, respectively) require the Secretary of Transportation to designate urbanized areas over 200,000 population as Transportation Management Areas (TMAs). A number of Census Bureau defined areas across the United States have recently exceeded 200,000 in population as determined by the 2000 Census. Accordingly, this notice hereby designates such areas as TMAs. Designated TMAs are subject to special planning and programming requirements. The FTA and the FHWA have developed a series of “Questions and Answers” related to applying 2000 Census data to Urbanized and Urban areas in the FTA and FHWA planning processes. More information can be found at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/census/faqa2cdt.htm or http://www.fta.dot.gov/library/planning/census/qa.html. These requirements apply to the metropolitan planning area that must be determined jointly under 23 U.S.C. 134(c), and 49 U.S.C 5303(d).

Additional areas shall be designated as TMAs upon request of the Governor and the MPO or affected local officials. Notification of any additional TMAs will be issued through a Secretarial Memorandum to the appropriate State Governors and MPOs, not as a notice published in the Federal Register. The UZAs with populations over 200,000, which are hereby designated as TMAs, are listed below. Three areas were previously designated TMAs at Gubernatorial request; Santa Barbara, California; Southern New Jersey, New Jersey; and Petersburg, Virginia. Of these three areas, only Santa Barbara, California did not meet the statutory population threshold for formal designation. However, Santa Barbara continues to be designated as a TMA as a result of the previous request.

There have been significant changes in the Census 2000 universe of urbanized areas from those defined, based on the 1990 census and criteria. These changes include new areas, areas formed by splits or mergers, name changes, and areas with significant boundary changes.

For multi-state urbanized areas over 200,000 population, the urbanized area is listed under the State with the largest share of the population. However, the TMA designation applies to the entire multi-state urbanized area. Montgomery, Alabama was previously designated a TMA, but fell below 200,000 in population and thus no longer meets the minimum population threshold to be classified as a TMA and is not included in the list of TMAs. Lorain-Elyria, Ohio was also previously designated as a TMA but is not included in the current list, since its Census designated population no longer meets the 200,000 threshold after a portion of the area has been absorbed by another, larger TMA (Cleveland).

The Census Bureau defined the Census 2000 urbanized areas using the criteria published in the Federal Register on March 15, 2002 (67 FR 11663). As a result of using these definitions, there were significant changes in the Census 2000 universe of urbanized areas from those defined, based on the 1990 census and criteria. A detailed description of the terminology and changes noted in the column entitled “Area Comparison to 1990 Census TMAs” is presented in the Census Bureau's notice of “Qualifying Urban Areas for Census 2000” in the Federal Register on May 1, 2002 (67 FR 21961).

Authority: 23 U.S.C. 315; 23 U.S.C. 134(i), 49 U.S.C. 5305, 49 CFR 1.48 and 1.51.