Full opinion text
PER CURIAM: Movement Against Destruction (MAD), an organization which opposes the construction of any further segments of the Federal-aid Interstate System in Baltimore City, joined by several neighborhood organizations and individual citizens of Baltimore City, filed a complaint herein on October 10, 1972, against the Secretary of the Department of Transportation of the United States (USDoT), and Joseph M. Axelrod, Chief of the Interstate Division for Baltimore City (IDBC), a division of the State Highway Administration (SHA). Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent defendants from taking or permitting any further steps towards construction of the “3-A System”, or any of its segments “until such time as defendants have established to the satisfaction of the Court that they are in full compliance with each and every one of the following statutes”: The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA); The Federal-Aid Highway Act, as amended; The Clean Air Amendments of 1970; and The Department of Transportation Act, as amended. Throughout the proceedings there has been considerable controversy over what the “3-A System” really is. The court has concluded, for reasons set out in this opinion, that it should be treated as a configuration of Federal-aid Interstate Highways and segments thereof, built, partly built or unbuilt, in Baltimore City (plus a highway known as City Boulevard), more fully described in fn. 6. The historical background and present status of 3-A is set out in the chronological statement below. The complaint was amended on November 29, 1972, to add additional plaintiffs, who sought to represent “the Class of Citizens of Baltimore City, wherever they live, who would be directly or adversely affected by the construction of the 3-A System”. The City was granted leave to intervene and a motion for determination of the class .action questions was filed. Two other cases raising some of the same issues are pending in this Court: (1) Sierra Club, Inc. v. Volpe (now Brinegar), et al., 71-1118-M; and (2) Lukowski et al. v. Volpe (now Brinegar), et al., 20634-T. At a conference on February 12, 1973, attended by Judges Thomsen and Miller and the counsel for all parties in the MAD, Sierra Club and Lukowski cases, a schedule was fixed leading to a trial on April 16, 1973. Counsel for all parties have co-operated in meeting the tight schedule. After a further hearing on February-28, 1973, an order was entered wherein, after making the findings and conclusions required by Rule 23, F.R.Civ.P., the court ordered that the MAD case be maintained as a class action for a specified class with respect to the issues involving the 3-A System as a whole, and for a specified class involving the F-M corridor, designating the class representatives and setting out the issues in detail. The court consolidated the Lukowski and Sierra Club cases with the MAD case for the sole purpose of the hearing and decision of the class issues involving the 3-A System as a whole. The issues set out in the order of February 28, 1973, have been modified as a result of (1) the briefs filed in connection with plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, which was denied, and (2) the evidence, arguments and briefs received during and after the trial. Most of those issues are really subsidiary questions or sub-issues to the two principal questions which the court must decide: (1) Should defendants be enjoined from taking any steps toward construction of the “3-A System” or any part thereof until an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the “3-A System” as a whole has been filed and approved ? (2) Should defendants be enjoined from: (a) proceeding with the contract which has been entered into for the construction of a relatively small portion of 1-170 in the F-M corridor and the grading of another small portion; and/or (b) taking any further steps in connection with the construction of additional portions of 1-170 in the F-M corridor? To understand and relate the chronological statement of facts to the issues, it is necessary to have in mind the procedures which must be followed and the approvals which must be obtained before a highway may be constructed with 90% federal funds as part of the “Interstate System”. First, a route must be selected by the highway department of a state subject to approval by the Secretary of Transportation. 23 U.S.C.A. § 103(d), (e) and (f). Next, the state highway department must submit to the Secretary for his approval a “program * * * of proposed projects” that the state wishes to construct with its portion of the funds appropriated for highway construction. 23 U.S.C.A. § 105(a). This is usually called “program approval”, and is a prerequisite to reimbursement out of federal funds for any work in connection with a particular project. A more complete description of this procedure will be included in the discussion, below. Then, the state highway department must submit to the Secretary for approval “such surveys, plans, specifications, and estimates for each proposed project included in an approved program as the Secretary may require”. 23 U.S. C.A. § 106(a). This is known as “PS&E- approval”. As a prerequisite to PS&E approval for each “project”, the state highway department must certify to the- Secretary that it has held public hearijigs on the location for each project and .must submit a transcript of the hearings to the Secretary. 23 U.S.C.A. § 128. The requirements of § 128 will be discussed below. The regulations under the Federal-Aid Highway Act and the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) published directives require the states to receive design approval and authorization to proceed with work, in addition to the “program approval” required by § 105(a), and the PS&E approval required by § 106(a), on each project on which reimbursement may be requested and for which a formal project agreement has been executed. See § 110(a). Advertisements for bids may then be published and construction contracts awarded. In PPM 20-8 (Jan. 14, 1969), published in 23 C.F.R. Ch. I, pt. 1, App. A (1972), FHWA related the requirements of 23 U.S.C. § 128(a) to the project approvals necessary for federal reimbursement. To achieve its stated purposes, PPM 20-8 requires states to obtain two formal FHWA approvals in addition to the project approvals necessary for federal reimbursement: (1) “location” approval, which follows “a corridor public hearing”, and (2) “design” approval, which follows a “design public hearing”. PPM 90-1 (Aug. 24, 1971), was issued to implement four separate federal statutes intended to avoid or mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of the Federal-aid highway program: the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA); section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act (which is now identical to Section 138 of the Federal-aid Highway Act); section 106 of the Historic Preservation Act of 1966; and section 309 of the Clean Air Act of 1970. PPM 90-1 relates the operative provisions of each statute to the location approval and design approval requirements of PPM 20-8. “Highway agencies” are required by PPM 90-1, para. 6b, to prepare the environmental statements required by § 102(2) (C) of NEPA and to prepare information relating to the requirements of § 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act. “Highway agency” is defined as “the agency with the primary responsibility for initiating and carrying forward the planning, design, and construction of the highway”, in our case the Interstate Division for Baltimore City (IDBC), a division of the State Highway Administration (SHA) of the Maryland Department of Transportation (Md.DoT). A list of the abbreviations used in this opinion appears as Exhibit B, at p. 1404. This opinion will constitute the court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law. Chronology By the early 1940’s traffic engineers in Baltimore realized that merely improving existing streets would not provide long term solutions to moving traffic into and out of Baltimore. An Advisory Engineers’ Report in 1942 recommended (1) a bypass route to take care of through traffic, and (2) a crosstown freeway utilizing the F-M corridor west of the Central Business District (CBD) and connecting with a bypass route near the eastern City line, to provide access to commercial and residential centers. In each year from 1943 through 1946 modifications of that plan were proposed by various groups. In 1949 the Planning Commission of Baltimore City (PCBC) published “A Tentative Master Transportation Plan”, which included, inter alia: a ring around the CBD, with a western leg utilizing the F-M corridor, and a bypass route running from the Baltimore-Washington Parkway across Locust Point and the Patapsco River to Canton and the east. It also proposed the Jones Falls Expressway (JFX), which now brings 1-83 from the Beltway to the northern edge of the CBD. In 1951 City voters approved a $10,000,000 bond issue to start construction of the JFX. In 1957, shortly after the passage of the Federal-aid Highway Act, SHA submitted and had approved by FHWA route descriptions for proposed Interstate Highways in Maryland. These included a route from Baltimore to the Pennsylvania line, south of York (1-83), a route from the District of Columbia line to Baltimore and from Baltimore to the Delaware line, east of Elkton (1-95) and a route from the Pennsylvania line near Hancock, via Hagerstown and Frederick to Baltimore (1-70 and I-70N). The route maps accompanying the route descriptions established a control point in an area somewhere in the geographical center of the City for the intersection of the three routes. The I-70N portion of the configuration was an extension of the west radial in the 1949 plan, and utilized the F-M corridor. In 1960 PCBC proposed an expressway configuration known as the “Harbor Route”, which included a crossing of the Inner Harbor by 1-95 to connect with JFX and an inner loop around the CBD, which would connect with the F-M corridor, as part of I-70N. In 1961 a study made by a joint venture of consulting engineers (the Expressway Consultants) proposed the 10-D configuration. 10-D continued to use the F-M corridor for I-70N, but added a connection between I-70N and 1-95 near the Camden Industrial Park by means of a corridor west of Fremont Avenue. 10-D also included an Inner Harbor crossing and an interchange with 1-83 in the vicinity of Fells Point. 1-95 was to continue through Fells Point and Canton and up to the east City line to connect with the* Harbor Tunnel Thruway. This study caused considerable debate throughout the City. In January 1962 PCBC approved 10-D with designated areas for restudy. On January 30, 1962, the location hearing on the F-M corridor was held. It covered the then proposed East-West Expressway, of which F-M was a part. In 1963 the Regional Planning Council (RPC) was established as an independent state agency by the Maryland General Assembly, which cited the following reasons for its action: “The rapid urbanization of the area which includes Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard Counties has resulted in the creation of serious problems. Sixty percent of the population of Maryland resides in this area. During the past ten years, the population of the region has increased by one-third. It is anticipated that this trend will continue, further aggravating the problems. The economy and well-being of the area are best advanced when the economic potential is considered and developed on a regional and statewide basis. An opportunity must be provided for the several units of government within the area to work together with the state and private agencies toward the solution of their problems. “In order to deal with these matters on a rational and sound basis, they must be considered within the framework of a general development plan for the area. Thus, the Regional Planning Council is required to prepare a suggested general development plan — a plan which will provide for the effective employment of the natural and other resources of the region —and which will assure a continuous comprehensive planning process within the region. “The Regional Planning Council serves as a coordinating agency (1) seeking to harmonize and advance its planning activities with the planning activities of the state and of the counties and municipalities within the metropolitan area, (2) rendering planning assistance, (3) stimulating public interest and participation in planning for the development of the area, (4) serving as the referral agency for problems affecting more than one unit of government, and (5) reviewing local government programs and federal grant-in-aid requests when required by law. “The Regional Planning Council’s 26-member policy board is comprised of two top elected officials and a representative of the planning agency of each of the six member jurisdictions, two members-at-large and the secretaries of four state departments, a member of the State Senate and a member of the House of Delegates. The policy board meets once a month, and is responsible for recommendations on general planning, economic development, comprehensive health, transportation, land use, open space and the natural environment, housing, criminal justice, water and sewer facilities and library planning.” RPC, with minor modifications in its membership, and with the addition of non-voting representatives from U. S. agencies (FHWA and Department of Housing and Urban Development) and observers from other state agencies, has continued to function substantially as planned, until the present time. The Transportation Technical Committee (TTC), an advisory committee to RPC, is composed of the heads of the various local and State agencies concerned with land use and transportation. These include Md.DoT, SHA, MTA, and the'heads of the planning, traffic engineering, and public works departments of the six jurisdictions in the Baltimore Region, as well as representatives of RPC. On February 1, 1964, Federal and State officials announced their “approval” of a route beginning at the west City line, running through Leakin Park, easterly -through the F-M corridor, then southerly using a proposed Myrtle-Pine corridor, a proposed Lee-Hill corridor and a proposed Inner Harbor crossing to describe a half-circle south of the CBD, then easterly (generally along Boston Street) and northerly to connect with the Kennedy Highway, part of 1-95 leading to Delaware. The BMATS report, rendered April 1, 1964, surveyed the existing traffic conditions and included an origin-destination survey. The development characteristics of the Baltimore region were analyzed, along with the travel characteristics. Trip distribution for 1980 was projected, as well as future growth in the region. Future traffic facility needs were analyzed and alternative highways plans tested. BMATS recommended a master highway plan, including 48 miles of freeway within the City of Baltimore. These included use of the F-M corridor as part of I-70N, a loop around the CBD, and an Inner Harbor crossing of 1-95. The BMATS report proposed'a format for a continuing transportation planning process, to provide updated study data, which could be introduced into the decision making process as necessary. On October 15, 1964, the consulting engineering firm of Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade and Douglas (Parsons) submitted to MTA its Phase II report, a long range program for Baltimore area mass transportation. The Parsons’ study was coordinated with other transportation planning in the Baltimore region through a Steering Committee chaired by the Director of the State Department of Planning. Both BMATS and Parsons used the same land use data obtained from the RPC. The Parsons’ Mass Transit Plan was based upon the assumption that the highway configuration (10-D) recommended by the BMATS study of 1964 would be in effect. The all-bus transit alternative and the commuter railroad alternative were rejected for reasons stated in the report. The Parsons’ report recommended for 1985 a rapid rail transit system composed of an inner-city loop, a northwest radial and a northeast radial. For long range purposes beyond 1985 a six legged rapid rail system was proposed. The Parsons’ report recognized the need for balanced transportation and stated that “no single means of transportation is sufficient itself”. With respect to the need for expressways, the Parsons’ report stated: “Though it is beyond the scope of this Report to. comment on any specific highway alignment or development, nevertheless it is considered essential that express transportation for motor vehicles be provided by a comprehensive limited access highway network. Such a system is fundamental to providing for movements between the dispersed residential areas and dispersed employment locations that characterize the area. In the view of the Consultant, such a system will be vital to the economic health and growth of the Greater Baltimore community.” Location approval for the F-M corridor was requested and granted in 1965. On February 16, 1966, by agreement between SHA and the City, the Interstate Division for Baltimore City (IDBC) was created to manage the construction and completion of the Interstate System highways in Baltimore. On June 20, 1966, a Federal Aid Project Agreement was entered into between SHA and FHWA for the acquisition of rights-of-way in the F-M corridor from the Pennsylvania Railroad (on the west) to Fremont Avenue (on the east) , The Federal funds made available under that agreement amounted to $6,595,229. The agreement was subject to the following provision: “In the event that actual construction of a road on this right-of-way is not undertaken by the close of the seventh fiscal year following the fiscal year in which this agreement is executed, the State highway department will repay to the Bureau of Public Roads the sum or sums of Federal funds paid to the highway department under the terms of this agreement.” On September 15, 1967, RPC adopted a suggested General Development Plan (GDP) for the Baltimore Metropolitan Region, i.e. Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard Counties. The 1967 GDP included freeways within Baltimore City, which were roughly the 10-D configuration. The 1967 GDP also included the rapid rail transit system proposed by Parsons, with extensions, as part of a “balanced transportation system”. The RPC stated: “The Plan encourages the continued redevelopment and revitalization of central Baltimore — to provide a strong central core and serve as the regional focus for major commercial, financial, institutional and cultural activities”. In the same year, 1967, the American Institute of Planners and the American Institute of Architects complained that the existing 10-D alignment was not responsive to the new concepts for social, environmental and economic improvement of the City. A committee headed by a Baltimore architect recommended the formation of a conceptual design team to design the highways. On October 3, 1967, an inter-disciplinary team, known as the Urban Design Concept Associates (UDCA), was organized under contract with SHA. The stated objective of the arrangement was to “assure that the Interstate System within the City will provide for the social, economic and aesthetic needs of the City’s environments as well as provide an efficient transportation facility”. UDCA included highway, traffic and transit engineers, architects and urban planners, supplemented by consultants in urban land economics, sociology, landscape design, community relations and other disciplines. The application of the inter-disciplinary approach to the development of a highway project encompassing all interstate routes within a major city was a novel experiment. In June 1967 RPC engaged Daniel, Mann, Johnson and Mendenhall, consulting engineers (DMJM) to conduct a further feasibility and preliminary engineering study of rapid transit. Liaison was established between UDCA and DMJM. During the DMJM study, an associate consultant, Alan Voorhees, reported on a study entitled “Travel Forecasting and Patronage and Revenue Estimates for Baltimore Region Rapid Transit System.” This study undertook a “modal split” projection between transit and other types of trips. The Voorhees modal split figures became available to UDCA by the spring of 1968, and were accepted by it. UDCA concluded that the results of the Voorhees modal split data did not change the need for additional freeway facilities, based on land use, commercial development, schools, employment and population distribution. In meetings of TTC during this period, the analyses and recommendations of DMJM were discussed and related to the analyses and findings of UDCA. Representatives of both groups attended some of the meetings. The formal report of DMJM to RPC was rendered under date of July 1968. The report recommended a six-leg rapid transit system, with no CBD loop. The DMJM report noted the following with respect to highway planning: “(a) While projected travel demand will nearly double by 1985, 'only modest increases in streets and highway capacity * * * are now contemplated’. “(b) The combined capacity of currently planned radial highways, and those which can be reasonably expected by 1985, will satisfy only a portion of the peak hour transportation needs. Without rapid transit, the already substantial peak hour congestion along radial freeways will be aggravated and compounded by clogged downtown surface streets leading to and from the freeways. “(c) In complex urban areas such as Baltimore * * * no single transport mode can solve all problems.” On August 22, 1968, UDCA, which had been testing different possible freeway networks, reported to the Policy Advisory Board of the IDBC that the 10-D system was not sufficiently responsive to the needs of the community, because it contained two massive interchanges, one on each side of the proposed inner harbor crossing, which were too close together to provide local service ramps to the CBD. The Policy Advisory Board authorized further study of several alternate configurations or systems in Baltimore City. On October 18, 1968, UDCA sent to the Policy Advisory Board a report referred to as a “Transportation, Environmental and Cost Summary”, which evaluated several concepts and configurations for expressway routes in Baltimore City. That report was not treated as “a program of projects by FHWA” under 23 U.S.C. § 105. The purpose of the studies which resulted in the October 18, 1968, UDCA report had been to develop information on traffic, service, environmental effects, cost and engineering feasibility with respect to each of four alternative system configurations. UDCA recommended the 3-C configuration. The 3-C configuration was similar to the 3-A configuration, which was finally adopted, except that 3-A substituted a City Boulevard for a direct connection of I-70N to 1-83, south of the CBD. At a TTC meeting on November 21, 1968, Dr. Linaweaver, head of the Department of Public Works of the City (DPW), reported (1) that UDCA had recommended 3-C and (2) that SHA had requested the allocation of additional interstate mileage from FHWA for a number of highways in the State of Maryland, including additional interstate mileage for use in Baltimore City. The RPC staff studied the UDCA report and recommended to the Mayor of Baltimore that the 3-A configuration should be recommended as superior to 3-C and the other alternatives under consideration. On December 30, 1968, Mayor D’Alesandro asked the Chairman-Director of SHA for favorable endorsement of 3-A as the plan “most compatible with the environmental, commercial and social needs of the City”. On January 7, 1969, SHA wrote the FHWA Division Engineer advising him that on January 2, 1969, the Policy Advisory Board of IDBC had voted to endorse system 3-A, with the condition that I-70N be relocated so as not to encroach on the Rosemont community in West Baltimore. The letter requested FHWA to approve (a) authorization of additional mileage for system 3-A; (b) authorization of additional funds; and (c) inclusion of the proposed boulevard as part of the Interstate System for financing purposes. On January 17, 1969, the Federal Highway Administrator (Bridwell) wrote SHA as follows: “We approve, effective this date, the addition to the Interstate System of the following routes in Baltimore, • Maryland. * * * Route 170. From a junction with FAI Route 70N in the vicinity of Edmondson Avenue easterly along the Franklin-Mulberry corridor to the vicinity of Fremont Avenue.” The Administrator also approved the addition of Route 395 and revisions of Interstate Routes 70N, 83 and 95, “based on Scheme 3-A” as developed by UDCA and stated: “New descriptions are not required for these routes inasmuch as the existing descriptions are broad enough to cover the changes involved”. On January 10, 1969, PCBC had amended the Master Plan of Streets to include the routes in system 3-A, with the Rosemont by-pass. PCBC noted that: “The door is now open to a much more fruitful working process than was formerly operative when the Concept Team was confined within the limits of the original condemnation ordinance.” As a method of involving the community in the planning of the proposed portions of the Interstate System in Baltimore City, IDBC had organized the Conceptual Review Committee (CRC) late in 1968. CRC consisted of a permanent committee of representatives of major city agencies, including Recreation and Parks, Planning, Housing and Community Development, Public Works and Education. City-wide private agencies were also represented, such as the Citizens Planning and Housing Association, Greater Baltimore Committee, and MAD; one of the plaintiffs herein. On a segment-by-segment basis, these organizations were supplemented by representatives from other community organizations in the vicinity of the segment. Several meetings of CRC were held on each segment to discuss the needs of the community and the ways in which joint development projects could be planned to meet such needs. The CRC meetings- on the F-M corridor were held on March 18, March 25, and April 1, 1969. Among the topics discussed at those meetings were noise and air pollution impacts in the corridor, the type of housing that should be constructed in the area and interim uses for the corridor. Many of the recommendations resulting from these committee meetings were later implemented. On May 18, 1969, the Mayor requested RPC to include the 3-A system as the basis for future comprehensive transportation planning for the Baltimore Region. On June 30, the Budget and Program Committee recommended to RPC approval of the Mayor’s request. On July 18, 1969, RPC adopted a resolution which: Recognized the 3-A alignment as the Interstate configuration within Baltimore City, to supersede the alignment described in the 1967 GDP; Determined that the 3-A alignment be the basis of subsequent comprehensive planning; and Approved the 3-A alignment subject to necessary public hearings required for alteration of the GDP. The RPC resolution contained a whereas clause which recited that 3-A provides: better traffic distribution to the regional core, added economic inducement to underdeveloped industrial areas, needed facilities to accommodate significant travel desires across the northwest branch of the Patapsco River, and the removal of the bulk of the through traffic from the high density core area. On October 1, 1969, the SHA-UDCA contract was amended to reflect the change from 10-D to 3-A. That contract required UDCA to develop system-wide concepts, including design criteria, and segments concepts, including corridor development planning and engineering concept design. Preliminary engineering has been continued to the present. As of January 1, 1970— I-70N was constructed or under construction from Pennsylvania to a terminal point at or near the west City line. 1-95 was constructed or under construction from the Washington Beltway to the southwest city line of Baltimore and from that line to a terminal point at Catón Avenue (segment 7 of 3-A); other parts of 1-95 (segments 1 and 2 of 3-A) were constructed or under construction between the east city line in the vicinity of the Harbor Tunnel Thruway and a terminal point near O’Donnell Street. 1-83 was constructed from the Pennsylvania line to the north city line and thence, as JFX, to a terminal point at Eager Street. As of January 1, 1970, there was no other construction underway on the highways included in 3-A; no other segment of those highways in Baltimore City had received design approval; and 11 of the 16 segments had not received location approval. The proposed final EIS on F-M was submitted by IDBC to FHWA on December 16, 1971, and was supplemented on September 5, 1972. The EIS on F-M was prepared by IDBC in cooperation with Joseph A. Stackley, the District Engineer of FHWA responsible for the district in which Baltimore City is located. Stackley has at all times' been aware of the proposed content and scope of draft and proposed final EIS’s on 3-A sections in the City as they were being prepared. Whenever Stackley has felt that an EIS under preparation should be augmented or changed, he has expressed his views to IDBC and those views have been accommodated. On June 8, 1972, the Assistant Secretary for Environment and Urban Systems, USDoT, sent to the FHWA a memorandum which stated: “After a careful review of the available information, we have concluded that TEU’s concurrence on the subject document should be deferred until certain issues have been resolved or more fully addressed. “The final environmental impact statement for this segment appears to contain several deficiencies and omissions. Our specific concerns include •X- -X- 'X- » Then followed a statement of five “specific concerns”. These “concerns” were covered in the supplement, dated September 5, 1972, to the Final Environmental Impact Statement. They will be considered in detail in the discussion under the heading “Franklin-Mulberry EIS”, below. The design public hearing on 1-170 from Pulaski Street to Pearl Street (the F-M corridor) was held on July 25, 1972, following an informational hearing on July 18, 1972. Design approval of 1-170 from Pulaski Street to Pearl Street was requested on September 5, 1972. On September 15, 1972, following a meeting between representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and FHWA to consider the scope of EPA’s comments on the 3-A system and the implications of those comments, an inter-agency “consensus” was reached between EPA and FHWA, which included items which may be summarized as follows: 1. Construction of the F-M corridor is not viewed as a commitment to the entire 3-A system. 2. Neither PS&E approval nor further right-of-way approval would be granted by FHWA on remaining segments of the 3-A system until a regional impact consideration statement is prepared and circulated to FHWA, USDoT, EPA and the Bureau of Air Quality Control (BAQC). No agreement similar to that reflected in the preceding paragraph and n. 37 has been entered into in any other region of FHWA. It is an innovative process, designed to foster cooperation between FHWA, TEU (on behalf of the Secretary, USDoT) and EPA. On October 31, 1972, the Urban Mass Transportation Adm’n (UMTA), an agency of USDoT, approved the application of Md.DoT for a capital grant in the amount of $22,500,000 for a project in connection with Phase 1, Section A of Rapid Transit. This section runs from the Inner Harbor and the CBC to the City line south of Pikesville through the Druid Hill area and the northwest transportation corridor. The amounts expended or committed in connection with the planning and preliminary engineering of the Rapid Transit system total $4,553,091. Some $22,000,000 in Federal funds and $11,000,000 in State funds are programmed for further work on the Rapid Transit. The updated projected completion costs for Phase I, Rapid Transit, assuming a 1980 completion date, are $976,000,000. The future of rapid rail transit in the F-M corridor is conjectural. MTA is making no plans for the west leg of the proposed rapid rail transit system, because it has no money to do so. No decision has been made as to which leg of rail rapid transit will be built next after the two legs of Phase I, which run from Owings Mills to the CBD and the Inner Harbor, and thence to south of Glen Burnie, in Anne Arundel County, with a leg to Friendship Airport. On December 15, 1972 following public hearings, RPC adopted the 1972 GDP, which includes configuration 3-A within Baltimore City. The Report on the 1972 GDP stated that it “proposes an integrated, balanced transportation system which utilizes the most appropriate travel modes to accomplish a wide variety of transportation needs. The plan was developed by analyzing various transportation systems and recognizing the strong competitive and complementary service aspects of both highways and transit”. It states that the need for the improvements proposed in the 1972 GDP for highways, public transportation and other transportation modes was clearly indicated by a region-wide travel simulation analysis conducted during the two years preceding adoption of the plan, and that “in Baltimore City, the critical need is to supplement a basic arterial street system with a freeway network”. The Report noted: “The Port of Baltimore annually contributes over $620,-000,000 to Maryland’s economy while directly providing jobs for over 62,000 people. The resulting economic impact is over 1.5 billion dollars or about 12% of Maryland’s gross state product.' About 55% of the freight moving in and out of general cargo marine terminals moves by truck. During the next five years truck traffic is expected to increase about 75%.” The Report concluded: “Unless major highway improvements are made to the existing highway and rail system, the resulting traffic congestion and inefficiency will likely hinder the expected 80% growth in marine cargo tonnage expected during that time frame”. The consensus reached at the September 15, 1972 meeting, confirmed by the “Final Form of Consensus” dated October 13, 1972, constituted approval of the Supplemental Final EIS on “The Franklin-Mulberry Corridor portion of 1-170” by TEU on behalf of the Secretary USDoT, as required by DoT’s procedure memorandum (DoT 5610.1 A f[ 8 l) and by PPM 90-1 jj 6 k. The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) did not disapprove or otherwise comment on the Supplemental Final EIS, within 30 days after its receipt thereof. Design approval for 1-170 from Pulaski Street to Pearl Street (the F-M corridor) was granted by the Division Engineer of FHWA, by letter to SHA, dated February 12, 1973, which stated: “The 30 day waiting period for CEQ to act on the final environmental statement expired February 10, 1973. “Design approval for the subject project is hereby given. [The subject project was 1-170-8 (3), Pulaski Street to Pearl Street.] “It is noted, however, that Fremont to Pearl at this time is not eligible for Interstate financing.” Plans, specifications and estimates were approved for the first construction contract for the F-M corridor by the Division Engineer of FHWA on February 21, 1973. This contract covers roadway grading, construction of retaining walls and bridge abutments in an area of less than three blocks from Pulaski Street on the west to a point west of Fulton Avenue on the east. That contract has been awarded. Construction is scheduled to start before the end of this month (June 1973). If it does not start before June 30, 1973, the City will be obligated to refund to the United States more than $5,000,000 received by it for land acquisition, etc. The corridor has been divided into four work areas, so that more contractors can bid and local firms can be in a competitive position. The construction contract documents (including construction drawings) for the remaining contracts on the portion of the corridor which has been approved were approximately 25% complete on the first of May, 1973; construction contract documents on the bridges for the corridor were 50% complete. On April 9, 1973, SHA entered into a consulting contract with Voorhees. The purposes of the Voorhees contract were: to satisfy the agreement among FHWA, TEU (on behalf of the Secretary USDoT) and EPA, and to supply general information of a regional nature to EPA. While much of this work has been previously done, the Voorhees study will pull the information together in a single document and give EPA immediate access to the information. The Voorhees contract deals with eight alternative transportation networks. Under task 2 of the contract, Voorhees is to develop socio-economic and land-use data for the target years and adjust the date to reflect the accessibility patterns resulting from the 3-A null alternatives. Task 4 requires the simulation of travel under five alternatives. Task 5 involves quantifying background pollution levels for carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen-oxide, photochemical oxidants, and particulates on a regional basis as input to task 6. Task 6 requires that the vehicle trip ends, vehicle miles traveled and speed estimates developed for each of the eight alterna-' tives be run on BAQC emissions model to obtain the level of mobil source emissions for carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons and nitrogen-oxide. This will then be aggregated with the background emissions data and assimilated with necessary meteorological and air quality data in order to run dispersion models for each alternative. An existing model is to be used for CO, a rollback technique is to be used for oxidants, and the “best available methodology” for nitrogen-oxide- and particulates. Task 7 involves predicting sewerage and storm water run-off resulting from the land-use patterns which are projected as a consequence of each transportation system alternative. Task 8 requires predicting regional consequences relative to solid waste, in connection with the land development patterns resulting from the transportation alternatives. Task 9 involves an overview and analysis of the impact of community noise levels from the various alternative transportation systems involved. Discussion I The plaintiffs have argued vigorously that the “3-A system” as a whole must be the subject of an EIS. The point of departure in this inquiry is the requirement of NEPA, 42 U.S.C. § 4332(2) (C), that an EIS be prepared in the case of “ * * * major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment * * Plaintiffs contend that the “Bridwell letter” dated January 17, 1969, was a federal approval of the “3-A system” as a “program for projects” under 23 U.S. C. § 105, and, as such, was a “major federal action” within the meaning of NEPA. This argument misconstrues the nature of a “program for projects”. A “program for projects” under § 105 is neither an integrated unit nor a group of well-defined, specifically located, and previously engineered highways. Under PPM 21-1(5) (Feb. 2, 1962), each project in a program must be submitted on a separate FHWA form. Since § 105(a) authorizes approval of a program “in whole or in part”, failure to approve one of the projects submitted for program approval does not affect the status of a program or other projects in it. Projects relating to a particular proposed highway may be submitted for approval in a program at one time or over the course of several years. With respect to each project, a “program for projects” usually presents for approval one or more stages or part of the work necessary ultimately to be completed to result in the actual finished construction of a highway. This approval, known as “program approval”, is required before a state may undertake work, even with its own funds, on any project for which it ultimately may receive federal reimbursement. PPM 21-1. Program approval under § 105 does not commit the federal government to provide federal funds for use in highway construction, but results merely in a reservation of previously apportioned federal funds for potential use. It is only after approval of plans, specifications, and estimates (PS&E approval) under 23 U.S.C. § 106(a) that the federal government is contractually obligated to pay its share of a project’s costs. See 23 U.S.C. §§ 110 and 121. The Bridwell letter, not having been the result of a request for “program approval” as contemplated in 23 U.S.C. § 105 or PPM 21-1, and not fitting the administrative mold of program approval under § 105 and the applicable PPMs, was not major federal action taken under 23 U.S.C. § 105. The Bridwell letter was not intended to and did not constitute the “3-A system” a legal entity with independent legal status under the Federal-Aid Highway Act. The letter merely referred to “Scheme 3A” as a convenient means of describing the conceptual configuration of Interstate routes 70N, 83, and 95, as they appeared on the drawing of the so-called 3-A system which had then been recently endorsed by Mayor D’Alesandro and the Policy Advisory Board of IDBC. This configuration represented a minor revision in the previously authorized conceptual configurations of I-70N, 1-83 and 1-95, which did not require any change in their general route descriptions. The letter also approved, without specific reference to “Scheme 3A”, the addition of 1-170 and 1-395 to the Interstate System, and conceptually described those routes. It must not be forgotten that the Federal-Aid Highway Act contemplates cooperative interaction between state and local officials and the FHWA. Roads which are partially financed under the Federal-Aid Highway Act are proposed, planned, and constructed by state and local governments. The Act provides that the routes of the Interstate System “ * * * to the greatest extent possible, shall be selected by joint action of the State Highway Departments of each state and the adjoining states, subject to the approval by the Secretary [of Transportation] as provided in * * * this section.” 23 U.S.C. § 103(e)(1). See also PPM 10-1, [[7(a). The Bridwell letter was simply an approval of part of a requested modification of the Interstate System by SHA. It allowed the SHA to take advantage of additional mileage authorized for the Interstate System by Congress in 1968. Pub.L. 90-495, § 14(b), 82 Stat. 822, 826. The Bridwell letter was federal approval of a systems modification authorized by 23 U.S.C. § 103(e). Such approval does not impose any obligation on the federal government. Further approvals are necessary before any federal money can be used on any project. Section 103(e) approval, insofar as a proposed Interstate Highway is concerned, is merely an indication by the federal government that a state’s very general proposal for the route of a highway to be constructed with 90% of the cost to be borne by the federal government is compatible with the federal government’s plan for an interstate system of highways. As set forth in PPM 10-1, |[ 3(a): “The National System of Interstate and Defense Highways consists of routes of highest importance to the Nation, which connect the principal metropolitan areas, cities and industrial centers, including important routes into, through and around urban areas, serve the national defense, and to the greatest extent possible, connect at suitable border points with routes of continental importance in the Dominion of Canada and the Republic of Mexico.” Under paras. 7(d), 8(a), and 9(b) of PPM 10-1, interstate route descriptions are general point-to-point descriptions. Route selection and approval are merely the first preliminary steps in a long process which eventually obligates the federal government to fund construction of a highway. 23 U.S.C. § 103(e); Arlington Coalition v. Volpe, 458 F.2d 1323, 1328 (4 Cir. 1972). Nothing in the Bridwell letter or in any of the applicable federal statutes or regulations requires that the 3-A system must be funded as a unit, viewed as a unit, or approved as a unit. The so-called 3-A system includes a proposed primary highway, as well as Interstate Highways. The Bridwell letter does not require nor indeed contemplate that the whole “3-A system” be finally approved and constructed if any part of the 3-A system is approved and constructed. Section 103 should not be construed as requiring a new systems approval of the entire 3-A configuration every time any modification is made in any route forming a part thereof, whether or not such route is a part of the Interstate System, although the change in the particular route might have to be approved under § 103, and the addition of further Interstate routes would require § 103 approval. As another part of this opinion will indicate, it is appropriate for some purposes to place each highway in the context of the total transportation function which it is to achieve, an examination which requires a broad look at the entire Interstate System in the area, as well as other highways, but this does not mean that any such system itself is the unit of approval. In short, the statutory scheme of the Federal-Aid Highway Act, and the administrative policies adopted thereunder, contemplate each individual Federal-aid highway as the unit of federal consideration and action and not the network of highways which ultimately will result from the approval and construction of the respective units. Neither the Bridwell letter nor any other action of the FHWA has constituted the 3-A system as a unit with legal status or stature. Even though the 3-A system does not have a definite legal status within the statutory or regulatory framework of FHWA, plaintiffs contend that nevertheless the broad mandate of NEPA attaches to the 3-A system as a whole. They argue that only if the entire proposed highway system is considered in an EIS can an informed judgment be made, giving due weight to the broad environmental and other factors involved. There is merit to the proposition that the units for consideration for decision making purposes cannot be so fragmented as to minimize artificially the potential adverse environmental impact of an implemented decision. That is not to say, however that NEPA itself requires an expansion of the unit of decision by a federal agency. Under NEPA, each agency of the Federal government is required to— “§ 4332 (2) (B) identify and develop methods and procedures, in consultation with the Council on Environmental Quality established by subehapter II of this chapter, which will insure that presently unquantified environmental amenities and values may be given appropriate consideration in decision making along with economic and technical considerations.” Furthermore, NEPA provides that— “§ 4333 All agencies of the Federal Government shall review their present statutory authority, administrative regulations, and current policies and procedures for the purpose of determining whether there are any deficiencies or inconsistencies therein which prohibit full compliance with the purposes and provisions of * * * [NEPA] and shall propose * * * such measures as may be necessary to bring their authority and policies into conformity with the intent, purposes, and procedures set forth in this chapter.” Pursuant to its responsibilities under NEPA and in' specific response to the directives of Executive Order 11514 (March 4, 1970), the CEQ published guidelines for Federal agencies in the preparation of environmental impact statements required by § 102(2) (C) of NEPA. These guidelines, consistent with §§ 4332(2) (B) and 4333, placed the primary responsibility upon each individual Federal agency to prepare its own NEPA procedures. Policy and Procedure Memorandum 90-1 (PPM 90-1) is the response of FHWA to the mandates of NEPA, Executive Order 11514, and the CEQ Guidelines, that FHWA produce its own procedures for the preparation of § 102(2) (C) statements. PPM 90-1, f[ 3a defines a “highway section” as “a substantial length of highway between-logical termini”; [f 5 makes a “highway section” the unit for which an EIS must be prepared; and U 6 provides that a “highway section included in an environmental statement should be as long as practicable to permit consideration of environmental matters on a broad scope * * * [and] should be of substantial length that would normally be included in a multi-year highway improvement program”. FHWA has consistently interpreted “highway section”, as used in PPM 90-1, to mean a road or a portion of a road, rather than a network of roads. No regional or system-wide EIS has been prepared under PPM 90-1 in any part of the country. The FHWA’s interpretation of its own PPM with respect to the meaning of “highway section” is entitled to great deference by the court. Udall v. Tallman, 380 U.S. 1, 85 S.Ct. 792, 13 L.Ed.2d 616 (1964). It is not surprising that the primary responsibility for preparing procedures to comply with NEPA was placed in the particular Federal agency affected by its requirements. As the CEQ Guidelines, ff 1, states in part: “The objective of section 102(2) (C) of the Act and of these guidelines is to build into the agency decision making process an appropriate and careful consideration of the environmental aspects of proposed action and to assist agencies in implementing not only the letter, but the spirit, of the Act.” Since the key factor in each case is the nature of the decision making process of the respective agency, each agency is to produce its own procedures which will build into its own decision making process an appropriate consideration and evaluation of the environmental aspects of its own proposed actions. This policy is simply a recognition that the decision making process changes from agency to agency. Cf. City of Boston v. Volpe, 464 F.2d 254, 258-259 (1 Cir. 1972). Whatever the laudable purpose of NEPA, its method of achieving that purpose was to require that the decisions of responsible federal officials be made after an appropriate and careful consideration of the environmental aspects of the proposed actions. City of Boston v. Volpe, supra. Despite the breadth of the NEPA, its application is only to the decision making processes of the Federal government, Civic Improvement Committee v. Volpe, 459 F.2d 957 (4 Cir. 1972). Similarly, it does not change the scope of the decisions which are to be made by the responsible Federal government officials but only the factors which must be considered in making the decisions which other statutes and regulations require them to make. Cf. City of Boston v. Volpe, supra, 464 F.2d at 258-259. As has been pointed out, the Federal-Aid Highway Act and the administrative practice of FHWA contemplate a road as a basic unit of decision making rather than a network of roads. There was, therefore, no “major federal action” which treated the 3-A system as a unit and, therefore, under the plain language of the NEPA no EIS is required for the “3-A System” as a whole. No -case has been cited or found in which NEPA has been seen as requiring an elevation of the basic unit of decision making by the responsible Federal government officials under the Federal-Aid Highway Act from a road or highway to a network of roads or highways. In James River and Kanawha Canal Parks, Inc. v. Metropolitan Authority, 359 F.Supp. 611 (E.D.Va.1973), the Downtown Expressway in Richmond, a highway programmed for exclusive state funding, was held not to be subject to NEPA, even though it had been planned as unified and interdependent with I-195, a Richmond Interstate spur, and even though federal funds had at least partially paid for the studies which resulted in the planned network of express highways of which the Downtown Expressway was one. No suggestion was made in that case that the network of highways comprising the proposed Richmond expressway system, was required under NEPA to be the subject of an EIS, even though its planning was at least partially financed by federal funds and even though at least one of the component roads of the network was a planned interstate highway. In Citizens for Mass. Transit Against Freeways v. Brinegar, 357 F.Supp. 1269 (D.Ariz., 1973), the court rejected the plaintiffs’ contention that the segments into which a 60 mile long portion of 1-10, an Interstate Highway, together with a proposed intersecting Federal-aid primary highway, were broken for purposes of preparation of present and future EISs and for other purposes, amounted to “pieeemealing”. The court stated, 357 F.Supp. 1269 at 1284: “Taken to extremes the logic of what plaintiffs assert would be to require approval of an entire freeway system before any action could be begun. This simply is not required by the statute.” In Northside Tenants’ Rights Coalition v. Volpe, 346 F.Supp. 244 (E.D. Wis.1972), the court held that an EIS was required for Park Freeway-West, a four mile long federal-aid primary highway forming a portion of the expressway system of Milwaukee County. The expressway system of Milwaukee involves approximately 60 miles of highway, of which 21 miles were uncompleted at the time of the decision. Similarly, Morningside-Lenox Park Association v. Volpe, 334 F.Supp. 132 (N.D.Ga.1971), arose against the background of a system of urban expressways in Atlanta. The case deals only with a requirement of an EIS for a four mile segment of 1-485 and does not suggest that an EIS for a network of expressways was required by NEPA. In Arlington Coalition on Transportation v. Volpe, 458 F.2d 1323 (4 Cir. 1972), cert. den. 409 U.S. 1000, 93 S.Ct. 312, 34 L.Ed.2d 261 (1972), which dealt with a portion of the total proposed freeway system in the Washington-Metropolitan area as well as in northern Virginia, the Fourth Circuit did not suggest that a regional or system-wide EIS was required. The discussion was in terms solely of an EIS on that portion .of proposed 1-66 located in Arlington County. The opinion in Arlington was modified on a petition for rehearing to delete the Fourth Circuit’s previously imposed requirement that decisions required to be made by responsible federal officials in reference to 1-66 be subsequent to the resolution of problems which had been raised in reference to a proposed intersecting Interstate highway, 1-266, and the connecting “Three Sisters Bridge” across the Potomac. The deletion of this requirement occurred even though the modifying opinion recognized that the Three Sisters Bridge 1-66, and 1-266 were “ * * * all three interrelated projects”. 458 F. 2d at 1339. While not precluding simultaneous consideration of the three projects and their probable impact on each other, Arlington, as modified, did not require that those three projects in or adjacent to northern Virginia be the subject of a single EIS nor that there be an EIS for the regional highway network. In some situations the relationship of several roads or parts of road may be so interrelated that no one road or part of a road can function as an efficient carrier of motor vehicles except in conjunction with the others. In such a case, it is possible that it would be necessary to have an EIS which would have as its subject all of the roads or parts of roads which could only function efficiently as a unit. In such an unusual situation, the several roads would not constitute a system of highways but would be treated essentially as a single highway for the purpose of the EIS. In the instant case, however, the court has found that the roads included in the 3-A system are not essentially a single highway. While they were planned together and complement each other, each interstate and primary route in the system is proposed to serve a different function in the movement of interstate and local vehicular traffic. The court cannot say that it was irrational, arbitrary, or capricious for the Federal agencies to conclude, after examination of all the facts, that deletion of one or more of the routes in the 3-A system would not necessarily so reduce the utility as vehicular traffic conveyors of the remaining routes as to require an EIS for the system as a whole. This court finds that the components of the 3-A system are not necessarily so interdependent as to require the construction of all of the 3-A system or none of it. Although we have concluded that an EIS on the 3-A system as a whole is not required, and that an EIS may be prepared for a particular section of a highway under PPM 90-1, it will not be sufficient in the future to consider the environmental impact of certain segments or sections of such highways as 1-95, I-70N and 1-83 entirely apart from other segments of those roads or from the entire configuration known as the 3-A system. In making some of the decisions which amount to major federal action with respect to one or more of the roads or segments thereof in the 3-A system, the Secretary, USDoT, or his delegate, may have to consider with respect to some of the environmental impact problems, not only the environmental impact of the road or segment for which his immediate approval is requested, but also the total environmental impact which would result from the use of the road or segment under consideration if and when used in connection with other segments or roads, already built or proposed to be built. It may be wise for the City, State and Federal authorities to prepare in the near future a statement which considers those environmental impacts which should be determined with respect to the entire configuration, or major portions thereof. Such a statement would be included in one or more of the EISs which will have to be prepared in the future for other sections of the highways in the 3-A system, and which will, of course, also include and consider those environmental impacts which should properly be determined section by section or road by road. II A draft EIS on the F-M corridor, covering an area designated as “Interstate Route 1-170 from Pulaski Street to Pine Street in the City of Baltimore”, was forwarded on or about August 23, 1971, to the various state and local agencies to which a draft EIS is to be sent under 42 U.S.C. § 4332(2) (C), the CEQ Guidelines, f[ 10, and PPM 90-1, 6, and Appendix G. Five Federal departments or agencies and two Maryland departments or agencies responded to the draft EIS. An effort was made by IDBC, in consultation with FHWA officials to incorporate into a proposed final EIS on the F-M corridor materials in response to the Federal and State agency comments. A proposed final EIS on the F-M corridor was filed with FHWA on December 15, 1971, and was reviewed and accepted for content by the Regional Highway Administrator on April 21, 1972, in accordance with PPM 90-1, if 6j. In accord with the USDoT’s procedure memorandum (DOT 5610.1A |f 8I) and PPM 90-1, f[ 6K, the proposed final EIS was submitted to USDoT’s offices of Environment and Urban Assistance (TEU) for review and concurrence on behalf of the Secretary. On June 8, 1972, TEU by letter advised the Federal Highway Administrator that TEU’s concurrence on the F-M corridor EIS was being deferred “ * * * until certain issues have been resolved or more fully addressed”. • In summary, TEU expressed the view that the EIS should more fully discuss (1) the various joint development proposals planned for the F-M corridor, (2) the possible noise and air pollution effects of the construction of 1-170 in the F-M corridor, (3) the detailed proposals for actual construction, with maps and other graphic material, (4) the propriety of the construction of the entire 1-170 spur before a resolution of the issue of whether or not I-70N would be constructed through Leakin and Gwynns Falls Parks to connect with 1-170, and (5) the means by which citizen-pa