Process

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Northwest Corridor Project was published in May 2007.  Given the extraordinary cost for construction of the facilities proposed in the DEIS, and the negative comments from stakeholders about the Bus Rapid Transit elements and the truck only lanes, GDOT was forced to rethink the project concept.

Since publication of the DEIS, GDOT has been exploring reduced cost approaches to providing meaningful improvements to the I-75 and I-575 corridors that are both affordable and provide meaningful travel time savings. In March 2009, the Northwest Corridor Project Environmental Impact Statement was restarted.  The revisions of the DEIS will be presented in a new Supplemental DEIS prior to completing the Final EIS and preparing the Record of Decision.

The Technical Analysis phase which identifies and develops the project details including traffic volumes, environmental impacts, refined physical and operational characteristics, financial analysis and other information has been revisited to address any changes in the existing conditions on the corridors. There are eight chapters in the Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement which matches the original DEIS.  These chapters in the Supplemental DEIS will present those portions of each chapter that have changed and analyze the project in considerable detail.

Once the Supplemental DEIS is completed, it will be circulated for comment at FHWA. After comments are addressed, the document will be published in the Federal Register, public comment solicited and a public information meeting scheduled to discuss the changes in the proposed Project and how it has evolved since the DEIS was originally published. After the Supplemental DEIS is approved a Locally Preferred Alternative is identified and the Final Environmental Impact Statement will be prepared with updated engineering drawings and a revised financial analysis among other things. After another round of circulation for comment, the FEIS will be approved with comments from agencies and the public incorporated into the Record of Decision. The final schedule milestone for the EIS is the formal approval and signing of the Record of Decision by FHWA.  After this, the project can be prepared for construction.