Staging Areas Feasibility Study and EIR

Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System (YARTS)

DC&E prepared an exhaustive Categorical Exclusion under NEPA and an Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration under CEQA for park-and-ride lots for YARTS, a rural public transit service serving Yosemite National Park and its gateway communities in Merced, Mariposa, and Mono Counties. DC&E prepared a site selection study reviewing the feasibility of 14 potential park-and-ride sites and then prepared schematic designs for eight selected sites. Criteria for selecting staging area sites included balancing the needs of the transportation system and local communities with factors such as biology, viewshed and watershed protection. Each of the selected sites was subjected to in-depth technical analysis for potential environmental impacts. As a result of the technical study findings, DC&E was able to conclude that a Categorical Exclusion under NEPA and a Mitigated Negative Declaration under CEQA could be applied to the project, resulting in important time savings that permitted the project to maintain its federal funding. DC&E coordinated the design and environmental review process with a number of local, State and federal agencies, including the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Caltrans, the National Park Service and the US Forest Service.