Feds reject Highway 100 lawsuit claims

Federal transportation authorities have rejected a three-month-old lawsuit's claims that the environmental review for the Highway 100 extension was flawed, but a court decision remains far away.

The federal government filed its response last month to a lawsuit brought by Linda Biederman of Marion, Elwood Garlock of Cedar Rapids and the Sierra Club of Iowa. The lawsuit claims an environmental impact statement allowing the extension "is fatally defective in its failure to comply with the requirements of NEPA (the National Environmental Protection Act)." It names Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and Federal Highway Administration Administrator Lubin Quinones as defendants.

More specifically, the lawsuit claimed the purpose and need for the highway extension was not justified and that no alternatives to the proposed route other than "very minor variations" were seriously considered. Traffic patterns and volumes were not adequately evaluated, the lawsuit claimed, and strategies to avoid or reduce environmental impact weren't adequately considered.

In a response filed Aug. 8, the Department of Transportation offered a blanket denial that it violated the National Environmental Policy Act. The agency also denied allegations it violated Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act of 1966, which says federal and state departments of transportation cannot approve the use of public lands unless there is no feasible or prudent alternatives to the use of that land, or the action includes all possible planning to minimize resulting harm.

United States District Judge Robert Pratt has not scheduled further action on the case. Attorneys for both sides said it's likely that the case can't advance further until the United States Department of Transportation and Iowa Department of Transportation prepare the administrative record. The record will show the entire paperwork trail that formed the basis for the decisions challenged in the case.

Bill Purdy, civil chief for the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Iowa, is representing the United States Department of Transportation. He said the case is simply an appeal of an administrative decision by a federal agency that will be decided based on the administrative record.

"The court may or may not want to hear from the parties in the form of argument," Purdy said.

Attorney Wally Taylor of Cedar Rapids represented the plaintiffs.

"They didn't ask for dismissal, which is encouraging to me," Taylor said.

Neither Purdy nor Taylor could predict how long the case may take, since scheduling orders have not yet been filed.

The project challenged in the lawsuit would create a four-lane beltway around the northwest part of Cedar Rapids. Highway 100 would be extended westward from its current ending at Collins and Edgewood roads about 7 miles across the Cedar River and through the Rock Island County Preserve and next to the Rock Island State Preserve. It would turn south in the Covington area and connect with Highway 30 for about the same distance.

Opponents believe the project will disrupt one of the region's more diverse ecosystems in the Rock Island preserves, affecting habitat for rare turtle and butterfly species.

Purdy said the government likely would have moved to dismiss the case prior to filing its answer to the lawsuit if it had found a legal basis, but "we don't have any that we perceive at this time."

Linn County, the City of Cedar Rapids and the Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce have been avid supporters of the Highway 100 extension. They see it as a way to reduce traffic pressures on I-380 in Cedar Rapids, speed traffic going from I-380 to westbound Highway 30, and to provide another bridge across the Cedar River that would improve public safety and provide opportunities for future land development.