Corps issues first High Speed Rail permit

Published March 14, 2014
Sections of the California High Speed Rail project with color coding to show the specific USACE district responsible for permitting.

Sections of the California High Speed Rail project with color coding to show the specific USACE district responsible for permitting.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District has issued the first Clean Water Act Section 404 permit for the California High-Speed Rail project -- specifically targeting 21 miles of the route from south of the Fresno River to the Fresno station site.

The permit authorizes permanent impacts to 6.96 acres of waters of the U.S. within the project footprint. This permit does not include the northern 1.8 miles of permit phase 1, crossing the Fresno River and Madera Irrigation District Main Canal.

The permit includes specific requirements to restore and mitigate permanent impacts to waters of the U.S.

The next section of project permitting under study by the Sacramento District is the Fresno-to-Bakersfield section, which remains open for public input through March 31. Corps regulators in San Francisco and Los Angeles district offices are concurrently examining other portions of the project in order to most efficiently meet the Corps’ environmental review mission for this major state transportation project.

The proposed path of California’s high speed rail runs 800 miles from Sacramento to San Diego, crossing numerous waterways and wetlands that fall under the jurisdiction of the Corps.


Contact
Robert Kidd
916-557-5100
robert.d.kidd@usace.army.mil

Release no. 14-011