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

1. (1) Action--A transportation project that may be regulated by another state or federal agency by law, rules, or regulations.
2. (2) Affected local government--The governing body of a county or municipality in which a project is located.
3. (3) 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.
4. (4) Agency--A state or federal governmental body having jurisdiction over environmental issues related to transportation facility development.
5. (5) Aviation project--The construction, enlargement, repair, or planning of an airport or air navigational facility as part of the aviation facilities development program.
6. (6) Beneficial use project--The productive and positive use of dredged material as proposed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
7. (7) 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.
8. (8) Certification of the public involvement process--The written verification from the district stating that the requirements to afford an opportunity for a public hearing, as specified in §2.42 and §2.43(c) of this subchapter, have been met, or stating that the requirements for a public hearing, as specified in §2.42 and §2.43(c) of 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 turnpike project.
11. (11) Department--The Texas Department of Transportation.
12. (12) Disposal plan--An operationally suitable method for the placement of dredged material that avoids or minimizes adverse environmental impacts.
13. (13) District--The Texas Turnpike Authority Division or one of the 25 geographical districts into which the department is divided.
14. (14) Division--The Environmental Affairs Division of the department.
15. (15) Environmental document--A decision-making document that incorporates environmental studies, coordination and consultation efforts, cost, and engineering elements. Documents may include categorical exclusion documentation, environmental assessments, environmental impact statements, reevaluations, and supplemental environmental impact statements.
16. (16) Environmental permits, issues, and commitments (EPIC)--Any permit, issue, coordination commitment, or mitigation obligation necessary to satisfy 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.
17. (17) Environmental studies--The investigation of potential environmental impacts, including studies conducted during transportation planning and project development and studies conducted to evaluate alternatives.
18. (18) 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.
19. (19) 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.

20. (20) Gulf Intracoastal Waterway Advisory Committee (GIWAC)--An interagency committee made 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.
21. (21) Highway construction project--A highway improvement project involving the construction or reconstruction of a highway.
22. (22) Highway improvement project--A highway construction or maintenance project under Transportation Code, Chapter 201, 203, 221, 223, 227, and 361.
23. (23) Human environment--Interpreted comprehensively to include the natural and physical environment, and the relationship of people with that environment.

24. (24) Jurisdiction--For purposes of §2.44 of this subchapter (relating to Gulf Intracoastal Waterway Projects), this 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.
25. (25) Maintenance action--A singular activity, performed by state or contract forces, to repair or perform work on a segment of the state highway system.

26. (26) Maintenance program--A collection of maintenance actions 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 marking, 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, wildflowers preservation and propagation, tree and brush trimming and removal, and the preservation of threatened and endangered plant species.
27. (27) Mitigation--An activity undertaken to avoid or minimize a transportation project's impacts to natural or cultural resources; to rectify the impacts by repairing, rehabilitating, or restoring the affected environment; to reduce or eliminate the impact over time by preservation and maintenance operations during the life of the action; or to compensate for the impact by replacing or providing for substitute resources or environments.
28. (28) Public hearing--A formal hearing to receive public input in determining a preferred alternative for or with respect to any changes to a transportation project.
29. (29) 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.
30. (30) Public meeting--An informal discussion that may assist in the preparation of environmental documents and may be held with local public officials, interested citizens or the general public, and local, neighborhood, or special interest groups for the purpose of exchanging ideas and collecting input on the need for, and possible alternatives to, a given transportation project.
31. (31) 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.
32. (32) Purpose and need--The issue that a proposed project or action seeks to address and the justification for the expenditure of public funds.
33. (33) Significantly--Shall have the same meaning as the term is used and has been interpreted under the National Environmental Policy Act and 40 CFR §1508.27.
34. (34) State project--A nonfederal-aid transportation project.
35. (35) Trans-Texas Corridor--The system of multimodal facilities designated by the commission under Transportation Code, §227.011.
36. (36) Transportation project--A highway improvement, rest area, aviation, turnpike, public transportation, or rail transportation project, ferry maintenance, or a project for the construction or operation of a facility that is a part of the Trans-Texas Corridor.
37. (37) Turnpike project--A project described in §27.2 of this title (relating to Definitions).

Source Note:The provisions of this §2.41 adopted to be effective December 9, 2004, 29 TexReg 11371.