California State Rail Plan 2005-06 to 2015-16

2005-06 – 2015-16 California State Rail Plan
by the Interstate Highway 15 ROW. If available, this alignment would minimize
the need for property acquisition and provides the least complicated construction
scenario possible.
To date the project has received a total of $9.0 million in Federal funding from
FY 1999 through FY 2005: $1.4 million in FY 1999; $2.0 million in FY 2000;
$900,000 million in FY 2001; $1.2 million in FY 2002; $1.5 million in
FY 2003; $1.0 million in FY 2004; and $1.0 million in FY 2005. Also,
$45 million is authorized in SAFETEA-LU for the next five years.
The CNSSTC has done a number of studies to date. They prepared and submitted
to USDOT a Project Description Report on the Las Vegas to Primm segment in
2000. Next the CNSSTC produced the Las Vegas-Primm/Barstow Supplemental
Project Description in August 2002. That report presents projected physical
infrastructure, ridership, costs, benefits, and related information for the extended
segment from Las Vegas to Barstow via Primm. The report estimated capital costs
for the segment in 2000 dollars to be $5.65 billion.
In May 2004, the FRA agreed to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact
Statement (PEIS) for the project, in cooperation with the Nevada Department of
Transportation. The PEIS will cover the entire corridor between Las Vegas and
Anaheim, and will include a site-specific construction level Program
Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) for the Las Vegas to Primm, Nevada
segment. As part of the PEIS, five public meetings were held in June 2004 in key
cities along the route. The CNSSTC has also prepared a preliminary report that
summarizes the results of the public meetings, a purpose and needs statement, and
a work plan. The PEIS/REIR is expected to be completed within three years.
The Department will be the lead agency to review environmental documents under
CEQA. However, the current PEIS does not trigger CEQA review as it is not
considered a “project” under CEQA definition. Only site-specific environmental
work on corridor segments in California will trigger CEQA.
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