Foothills Rehabilitation Recoordination Blount Co.pdf

United States Department of the Interior

FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

Tennessee Ecological Services Field Office 446 Neal Street

Cookeville, Tennessee 38501

(931) 528-6481

March 18, 2021

Mr. Kevin Rose Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division Federal Highway Administration 22001 Loudoun County Parkway Building E-2, Suite 200 Ashburn, Virginia 20147

Subject: FWS# 20-I-1874. Proposed Foothills Parkway Pavement Preservation

Recoordination; Federal Project No: NP-FOOT PMS(l), NP-FOOT PMS(2), and NP-FOOT PMS(3), Blount and Cocke counties, Tennessee.

Dear Mr. Rose:

Thank you for your correspondence received February 19, 2021, requesting a project recoordination on the proposal to perform preventive maintenance and pavement preservation activities on three sections of the Foothills Parkway in Blount and Cocke counties, Tennessee.

The stated purpose of this recoordination is because as the lead action agency, you have decided to pursue rehabilitation of Parkway Sections 8G and 8H (milepost 55.27 to milepost 77.21), in partnership with the National Park Service, rather than pavement preservation. The preventive maintenance and pavement preservation for Section 8A will continue as originally planned.

Rehabilitation would involve full depth pavement reconstruction of the mainline, parking areas, and pull-offs; repairing drainage structures; installing riprap at the inlets and outlets of two culverts to repair scour; replacing damaged sections of steel-backed timber guardrails; repointing stone masonry; removing and resetting sidewalk and stone curb; stabilizing roadside ditches and reconstructing paved waterways; replacing signs and pavement markings; installing pavement markings and reseeding shoulders; bridge maintenance repairs; reconstructing accessibility ramps; and other miscellaneous work.

You have determined that your previous findings remain valid and request our concurrences on the determinations of “not likely to adversely affect” for the federally listed Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) and designated critical habitat, northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis), gray bat (Myotis grisescens), duskytail darter (Etheostoma percnurum), snail darter (Percina tanasi), FWS# 20-I-1874 spotfin chub (Erimonax monachus), yellowfin madtom (Noturus flavipinnis), Anthony's riversnail (Athearnia anthonyi), fine-rayed pigtoe (Fusconaia cuneolus), oyster mussel (Epioblasma capsaeformis), Cumberland bean (pearlymussel) (Villosa trabalis), Virginia spiraea (Spiraea virginiana), and spreading avens (Geum radiatum). These findings are based on all work occurring within the existing roadway cross-section and implementation of best management practices, including temporary stream diversion, fiber roll, rolled erosion control product, and vegetative stabilization to minimize the potential for sedimentation. We have reviewed the subject proposal and offer the following comments.

Upon review of the information provided and our database, we concur with your findings of “not likely to adversely affect” for the above-mentioned species and critical habitat. We are not aware of any federally listed, proposed species, or critical habitat that would be impacted by the project.

Therefore, based on the best information available at this time, we believe that your obligations have been fulfilled for all species that currently receive protection under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). Obligations under section 7 of the ESA must be reconsidered if (1) new information reveals impacts of the proposed action that may affect listed species or critical habitat in a manner not previously considered, (2) the proposed action is subsequently modified to include activities which were not considered during this consultation, or (3) new species are listed or critical habitat designated that might be affected by the proposed action.

If you have any questions regarding our comments, please contact John Griffith at 931/525-4995 or by email at john_griffith@fws.gov.

Sincerely, Daniel Elbert

Field Supervisor xc: Vincent Pontello, TWRA, Crossville, TN