Air Quality Contacts
For more information, please contact Victoria Martinez.
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The FHWA recently released the Database for Air Quality and Noise Analysis (DANA) tool and it will be on FHWA's air quality website and the related Traffic Noise Model Aide (TNMAide) on FHWA's noise website. The DANA tool combines traffic data from existing data sources into a single database and processes the combined data into properly formatted inputs to the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES) model and the FHWA's Traffic Noise Model Aide (TNMAide). TNMAide is a spreadsheet tool that aids in the determination of the worst noise hour of the day, for use in the FHWA's Traffic Noise Model (TNM), as required by 23 CFR 772; and a method to estimate LDN and/or LDEN by using hour by hour data. A release webinar will be conducted on September 15, see the Events section of this newsletter for additional information. Please contact DANAhelp@dot.gov or David Kall with questions about the DANA tool or TNMHelp@dot.gov or Aileen Varela-Margolles with questions about TNMAide.
With the increase in billion-dollar disasters in recent years, USDOT and FHWA have made climate change and transportation resilience a priority and devoted greater resources to addressing climate-related impacts. The diverse and evolving requests for technical assistance and training highlighted the need for an interdisciplinary approach, which lead to the formation of the Climate Resilience Interdisciplinary Team (CRIT) in late 2020. The group is focused on increasing knowledge and improving transportation outcomes related to the adaptation of infrastructure to extreme weather and the mitigation of greenhouse gases to improve system resilience. Currently, the group has 8 members from 6 different Resource Center Teams including Environment, Air Quality and Realty; Hydraulics, Structures, Pavement and Materials, Operations and Transportation Performance Management. Additionally, the CRIT Team coordinates closely with associated HQ Program Offices who are working on similar efforts. For additional information, contact David D'Onofrio.
George Noel, the Air Quality Team's lead air quality modeling specialist has been selected to serve as the Environment, Air Quality and Realty Team's Technical Director on a rotational assignment. George will serve as Technical Director for the next three to four months.
Leigh Oesterling, who joined the Air Quality Team in 2018, has been promoted to Senior Air Quality Specialist.
The Transportation Research Board (TRB) National Cooperative Highway Research Program's (NCHRP) Research Report 970: Mainstreaming System Resilience Concepts into Transportation Agencies: A Guide provides transportation agencies with a tool to assess their efforts on mainstreaming resilience throughout their programs and procedures. The self-assessment includes questions for an agency to evaluate their capabilities at each stage of a ten-step resilience framework.
Kentucky held its fourth "Nature's Call to Action" conference on May 18 and 19, 2021. It was a free, virtual, conference that focused on Climate Change and the many ways to address it. The conference was divided into five distinct sections. The first section addressed the question, "What is Climate Change?" and the remaining four sections provided potential solutions: Use Alternative Fuels, Mitigate and Plan for the Future, Improve Air Quality, and Reduce Travel Demand. Five speakers from FHWA-Headquarters, and multiple regional and local experts made presentations on Complete Streets, the Federal Perspective on Climate Change, an Air Quality update including information about the new emissions model, MOVES3, Alt Fuel Corridors, and changes to the Detailed Damage and Inspection Report (DDIR) form that take climate change into account. The conference attracted over 100 people from multiple federal, state, and local agencies as well as several consultants from multiple states including Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey, Tennessee, Washington DC, and Kentucky.
July 13 – 21, 11:30 AM – 5:30 PM (ET) The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is hosting a multi-day workshop called How We Move Matters. This workshop will explore environmental impacts from technology-enabled transportation services, existing research, and needed research on the anticipated environmental health challenges related to emerging transportation services.
The FHWA is funding research to test the new RLINE/RLINEXT source types in AERMOD, and is hosting a virtual peer exchange on August 24, from 11 AM – 1:00 PM (ET). Participants will hear from researchers at Georgia Department of Transportation and Georgia Tech, New Mexico Department of Transportation and University of New Mexico, and Virginia Department of Transportation and AECOM on the use of AERMOD Source Types and RLINE/RLINEXT. The purpose of the peer exchange to inform AERMOD users, the FHWA and US EPA as well as other researchers the challenges and opportunities of the new AERMOD source types. Please register to attend this event. Contact Victoria Martinez, 787-771-2524, victoria.martinez@dot.gov.
If you are interested in getting a preview of some of the work, the New Mexico DOT and University of New Mexico created a GIS-to-AERMOD (GTA) tool that assists in converting from roadway GIS shapefiles to AERMOD sources and are looking for people to test the tool. If you are interested in testing the tool please contact Haobing Liu (hliu332@unm.edu) or Victoria Martinez (victoria.martinez@dot.gov) to get a link to the tool package, which contains the tool, user manual, and GIS shapefiles that can be used as examples. Please note that the tool is being distributed for testing/research purposes only.
September 15, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM (ET) A national webinar will be held to provide information on the new DANA Tool and TNMAide. Register for the webinar via this link. Please contact DANAhelp@dot.gov or David Kall with questions about the DANA tool or Aileen Varela-Margolles with questions about TNMAide.
Recording from March 23, 2021 A recording of a webinar hosted by National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NTIC) on how transit accessibility influences where people live and work, and tools for land use planning is available on the NTIC website.
TRB sponsored 2018 Transportation Resilience Innovations Summit and Exchange (RISE) program agenda and conference papers on key themes - Enhancing an Organization's Capacity of Incorporating Resilience into its Activities, Recognizing Infrastructure Dependencies and Fostering Partnerships, and Making the Case for Resilience - are available.
The NCHRP Research Report 975: Transportation System Resilience: Research Roadmap and White Papers, Road Map Ratings and Rankings Workbook Appendix B, and Resilience Research Roadmap and White Papers Presentation highlight knowledge gaps within American Associated of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and state departments of transportation, plans to address gaps, and critical issues.
FHWA's Resource Center Environment, Air Quality & Realty Team is available to offer MOVES and other trainings. Please contact George Noel, for additional information or to discuss scheduling a training
Several web-based transportation conformity training opportunities are available on-demand from FHWA's conformity training website (under "Web-based Training"). The target audience for these training materials are FHWA staff and State and local transportation partners (MPOs and State DOTs) who are either new to or would like a refresher training on the conformity process. For questions, please contact David Kall.
FHWA posted a 22-minute YouTube video on the CMAQ program. The video provides a basic introduction to the program, how CMAQ funds are distributed to States, and the types of projects eligible for the CMAQ program. For more information about the CMAQ program, please contact Mark Glaze.
The FHWA Resource Center Environment, Air Quality & Realty Team periodically conducts a series of training sessions on National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Air Quality Analysis for Highway Projects. The training includes sessions on project-level applications appropriate for managers and practitioners, as well as hands-on sessions intended for modelers. If you are interested in this training, please contact George Noel.
FHWA has created a Traffic Noise Model (TNM) Playlist on its YouTube Channel. These short-format videos demonstrate how to install TNM, complete basic tasks in the software, and provide details on specific features. Additional videos will be added throughout the year. Additional TNM Training materials are available on the FWHA Noise Training Website. For technical assistance with TNM please contact TNMHelp@dot.gov.
FHWA's Planning, Environment, and Realty office and the National Highway Institute (NHI), in cooperation with the Resource Center and Division Offices, have updated and launched a web-based Traffic Noise Training Course. This on-demand, web-based training was a previously multi-day, instructor-led course. This course is now available on the NHI website at no cost and provides a comprehensive overview of all aspects of the highway traffic noise program. The courses are available on the NHI website by searching for "highway noise" and locating course codes 142086 – 142094.
The NHI Air Quality Planning web-based training series is designed for transportation practitioners. It includes four modules: Clean Air Act Overview (FHWA-NHI-142068), SIP and Transportation Control Measure (TCM) Requirements and Policies (FHWA-NHI-142069), SIP Development Process (FHWA-NHI-142070), and Transportation Conformity (FHWA-NHI-142071). All courses are free. For more information, visit the NHI website and search "Air Quality Planning," or look for the specific course number. Please contact Karen Perritt with any questions or comment.
Past issues of the Air Quality and Sustainability Highlights are available on FHWA's website: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/air_quality/conformity/highlights/ or https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/sustainability/newsletter/.
Please e-mail Victoria.Martinez@dot.gov with any suggestions for future issues.
