The following words and terms, when used in this subchapter and Subchapters B and C of this chapter shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

1. (1) Affected local government--The governing body of a county or municipality in which a project is located.
2. (2) Affected public official--An elected official of a county or municipality in which a project is located, or a member of the United States Congress or the Texas Legislature in whose district a project is located.
3. (3) Agency--A state or federal governmental body having jurisdiction over environmental issues related to transportation facility development.
4. (4) Aviation project--The construction, enlargement, repair, or planning of an airport or air navigational facility as part of the aviation facilities development program.
5. (5) Beneficial use project--The productive and positive use of dredged material as proposed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
6. (6) Best management practices--Practices that are determined to be the most efficient, practical, and cost effective measures to guide a particular activity or address a particular problem.
7. (7) CE--Categorical Exclusion. The definition and processing of a CE is in §2.10 of this subchapter (relating to Categorical Exclusion (CE)).
8. (8) Certification of the public involvement process--The written verification from a district stating that the requirements to afford an opportunity for a public hearing, or the requirements for a public hearing, as specified in this subchapter, have been met.
9. (9) Commission--The Texas Transportation Commission.
10. (10) Conversion--An approval by the commission to convert a non-tolled segment of the state highway system to a toll project.
11. (11) Coordination plan--A plan for organizing and managing public and agency participation in and comment on the environmental review process for a project that requires an EIS.
12. (12) DEIS--Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The definition and processing of a DEIS is in §2.12 of this subchapter, subsection (e) (relating to DEIS).
13. (13) De minimis impact--An impact on a publicly owned park, recreation area, wildlife refuge, or waterfowl refuge that does not adversely affect the activities, features, and attributes of that property, or an impact to an historic site that will have no adverse affect to that site.
14. (14) Department--The Texas Department of Transportation.
15. (15) Disposal plan--An operationally suitable method for the placement of dredged material that avoids or minimizes adverse environmental impacts.
16. (16) District--One of the 25 geographical districts into which the department is divided. Under §2.1(f) of this subchapter (relating to Processing by district or other office) other department divisions may satisfy the environmental processing requirements to be completed by a "district."
17. (17) EA--Environmental Assessment. The definition and processing of an EA is in §2.11 of this subchapter (relating to Environmental Assessment (EA)).
18. (18) EIS--Environmental Impact Statement. The definition and processing of an EIS is in §2.12 of this subchapter (relating to Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)).
19. (19) Environmental division--The Environmental Affairs Division of the department.
20. (20) Environmental document--Environmental document includes categorical exclusion documentation, environmental assessments, environmental impact statements, supplemental environmental assessments, and supplemental environmental impact statements. An environmental document incorporates environmental reports, shows coordination and consultation efforts, and shows cost and engineering elements.
21. (21) Environmental permits, issues, and commitments (EPIC)--Any permit, issue, coordination commitment, or mitigation obligation necessary to address, offset, or compensate for social, economic, or environmental impacts of a project, including sole source aquifer coordination, wetland permits, stormwater permits, traffic noise abatement, threatened or endangered species coordination, or archeological permits, and any mitigation or other commitment associated with the project.
22. (22) Environmental studies--The investigations of potential environmental impacts to determine the environmental process to be followed and to assist in the preparation of the environmental document. Environmental studies include studies conducted during transportation planning and project development, and studies conducted to evaluate alternatives.
23. (23) FEIS--Final Environmental Impact Statement. The definition and processing of an FEIS is in §2.12 of this subchapter (relating to Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)).
24. (24) FONSI--Finding of No Significant Impact. The definition and processing of a FONSI is in §2.11 of this subchapter (relating to Environmental Assessment (EA)).
25. (25) Federal interagency coordination team--A group established to review proposed federal development projects related to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and whose duties include, among other things, advising on the consistency determinations.
26. (26) Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW)--The main channel, not including tributaries or branches, of the shallow draft navigation channel running from the Sabine River southward along the Texas coast to the Brownsville Ship Channel near Port Isabel.

27. (27) Gulf Intracoastal Waterway Advisory Committee (GIWAC)--An interagency committee comprised of members appointed by the department to represent state agencies having jurisdiction in the protection of the state's natural, historic, and economic resources. The GIWAC is created for the purpose of advising and assisting the department:

    1. (A) in developing a unified method to address problems and recommend solutions for the needs of the GIWW, for the protection of the environment and the state's natural and historic resources affected by the waterway, and for the promotion of the economic welfare of the state's interest in the GIWW;
    2. (B) in developing proposals for a disposal plan or a beneficial use project that will address dredged material disposal involving a segment of the GIWW identified by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as in need of maintenance dredging; and
    3. (C) on the acquisition of disposal sites in an environmentally sensitive and operationally suitable manner.
28. (28) Highway construction project--A highway improvement project involving the construction or reconstruction of a highway.
29. (29) Human environment--Interpreted comprehensively to include the natural and physical environment, and the relationship of people with that environment.

30. (30) Jurisdiction--For purposes of §2.44 of this chapter (relating to Gulf Intracoastal Waterway Projects), the term shall mean:

    1. (A) for a city, the area within the incorporated city limits and the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a city; and
    2. (B) for a county, any area within the boundaries of that county, excluding incorporated areas and areas within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a city.
31. (31) MAPO--Meeting with Affected Property Owners. The definition of a MAPO is in §2.6 of this subchapter (relating to Public Involvement-Meeting with Affected Property Owners (MAPO)).

32. (32) Maintenance program--A collection of maintenance work performed singularly or collectively on the state highway system. The following categories have been established as maintenance programs:

    1. (A) Bridge maintenance--Activities to repair or perform preventive maintenance on bridges, culverts, retaining walls, and barrier walls.
    2. (B) Customer service--Activities related to providing the traveling public with services, including maintaining rest areas, picnic areas, and litter barrels.
    3. (C) Debris and spills--Activities related to removing debris from the right of way, including litter, roadway debris, spills, and sweeping.
    4. (D) Drainage--Activities related to maintaining drainage systems and slopes on the right of way and within drainage easements, including roadside ditches, slopes, channels, creeks, streams, and rivers.
    5. (E) Ferry maintenance--The maintenance and operation of ferries under Transportation Code, §342.001.
    6. (F) Maintenance enhancement--Maintenance activities that improve the access to a highway or improve the performance of the highway system such as the installation of turn lanes, turnouts, turn-arounds, driveways, or shoulders.
    7. (G) Pavement maintenance--Activities to repair or perform preventive maintenance on pavements, including work performed on the pavement surface, base, sub-base, sub-grade, or embankment.
    8. (H) Roadside appurtenances--Activities related to fixtures along the roadways, including signs, delineators, mailboxes, guard rails, attenuators, illumination, and signals.
    9. (I) Traffic pavement markings--Activities related to markings on the pavement to control vehicular movement, including installing and removing striping, specialty markings, and pavement markings.
    10. (J) Vegetation management--Activities performed to establish and maintain the condition of the roadway and roadside on the state highway right of way, including mowing operations, pest management, revegetation techniques, erosion control, wildflower preservation and propagation, tree and brush trimming and removal, and the preservation of threatened and endangered plant species.
33. (33) NOI--Notice of Intent. The definition and processing of an NOI is in §2.5 of this subchapter, subsection (e) (relating to Public involvement for EIS project or supplemental EIS project).
34. (34) Mitigation--An activity undertaken to avoid or minimize a transportation project's impacts to the environment; to rectify the impacts by repairing, rehabilitating, or restoring the affected environment; to reduce or eliminate the impacts over time by preservation and maintenance; or to compensate for the impacts by replacing or providing for substitute resources or environments.
35. (35) Need and purpose--The transportation issue that a proposed project seeks to address and the justification for the expenditure of public funds.

36. (36) Preliminary design--

    1. (A) The portion of design work on a project that supports one or more of the activities listed in clauses (i) through (iv) of this subparagraph.

       1. (i) The evaluation of alternative courses of action.
       2. (ii) Preparation of information to satisfy EPIC requirements.
       3. (iii) Work taken to reduce project risks for the final design and construction phase of the project, including geotechnical investigations, utility surveys, hazardous materials assessments, and other investigations and analyses.
       4. (iv) Work taken to document a base case as part of an effort to define the requirements that apply to final design or construction.
    2. (B) Preliminary design does not include an activity that is an irreversible commitment of resources that forecloses the implementation of reasonable and prudent alternatives.
37. (37) Public hearing--A formal hearing to receive public input in determining a preferred alternative for, or any changes to, a transportation project.
38. (38) Public involvement--An ongoing phase of the project development process that encourages and solicits public input and provides the public the opportunity to become fully informed regarding project development.
39. (39) Public meeting--An informal meeting that assists in the preparation of environmental documents. A public meeting may be held with local public officials, local, neighborhood, or special interest groups, or the general public, for the purpose of exchanging ideas and collecting input on the need for, and possible alternatives to, a transportation project.
40. (40) Public transportation project--A project that may involve either capital or operational funding for the purchase of rolling stock, capital improvements, and facility renovations, and provision for public transportation services as defined under Transportation Code, Chapters 455, 456, 458, and 461.
41. (41) ROD--Record of Decision. The description and processing of a ROD is in §2.12 of this subchapter, subsection (f) (relating to FEIS).
42. (42) SEIS--Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. The description and processing of an SEIS is in §2.15 of this subchapter (relating to Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS)).
43. (43) Significantly--Shall have the same meaning as the term is used and has been interpreted under the National Environmental Policy Act and 40 Code of Federal Regulations §1508.27.
44. (44) State project--A nonfederal-aid transportation project.
45. (45) Supplemental EA--Supplemental Environmental Assessment. The definition and processing of a Supplemental EA is in §2.14 of this subchapter (relating to Supplemental Environmental Assessment (Supplemental EA)).
46. (46) Transportation Enhancement--An activity that is listed under 23 United States Code §101(a)(35), relates to a transportation project, and is eligible for federal funding under 23 United States Code §133. The focus of transportation enhancement activities is to improve the transportation experience in and through local communities.
47. (47) Toll project--Has the meaning assigned by Transportation Code, §201.001.

Source Note:The provisions of this §2.2 adopted to be effective January 4, 2007, 31 TexReg 10817; amended to be effective September 15, 2011, 36 TexReg 5947.