Air Quality Contacts
For more information, please contact Victoria Martinez (787-771-2524).
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In November 2017 EPA published a final rule designating about 85 percent of the country as attainment/unclassifiable for the 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). This summer EPA completed 2015 ozone designations for the remainder of the country with a final rule in June for most of the remaining areas and a final rule in July for eight counties in the San Antonio, Texas metropolitan area. Initial transportation conformity determinations are due one year from the effective date of the nonattainment designations, which is August 3, 2019 for most areas and September 24, 2019 for the San Antonio area. EPA also released updated Transportation Conformity Guidance for 2015 Ozone NAAQS Nonattainment Areas. Finally, information on the areas designated nonattainment for the 2015 Ozone NAAQS is now available on the EPA Green Book.
The Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) biennial Environmental Excellence Awards (EEA) recognize outstanding transportation projects, processes, and partners that use FHWA funding sources to go beyond "business as usual" to achieve environmental excellence. Applications will be accepted from August 1 to September 28, 2018.
The 2019 EEA Program represents a joint effort among three the FHWA Office of Project Development and Environmental Review, Office of Natural Environment, and Office of Human Environment. Awards recognize achievement across a range of categories, such as air quality and noise, adaptation and resilience, accelerating project delivery, applied environmental research, and environmental education and training programs (see a full list of categories in the application).
For more information on the application process or to learn more about the EEA Program and past recipients, please visit the FHWA EEA website. For questions about the EEA Program, please contact: EEAwardsNomination@dot.gov.
The Midwest Alternative Fuel Corridor Convening was the first in a series of regional convenings sponsored by FHWA. It was hosted by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) in St. Paul on June 12, 2018. A total of 52 stakeholders participated, including five remote participants. The convening focused on addressing the barriers and opportunities to expanding the network of alternative fuel corridors in the Midwest. A planning committee comprised of alternative fuel stakeholders in the region was formed to help shape the agenda for the convening.
An agenda and summary report from the convening, presentation materials, and fact sheets are all available via the Alternative Fuel Toolkit Website.
In light of recent technical assistance requests from State DOTs and MPOs, the FHWA Office of Natural Environment and the FHWA Resource Center offered basic transportation conformity overview and basic MOVES emissions model training in the form of two live webinars on June 12 and June 18, 2018. The webinar recordings are now available for review.
The target audience for these webinars 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. Please also note that additional transportation conformity training is available on-demand from FHWA's conformity training website (under "Web-based Training"). For questions, please contact David Kall, FHWA Office of Natural Environment, via e-mail (david.kall@dot.gov) or phone (202-366-6276).
A new FHWA report, Coastal Green Infrastructure to Enhance Resilience of State Route 1, Delaware, documents a pilot project sponsored by FHWA and the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) to assess the potential for green infrastructure techniques to protect sections of Delaware State Route 1. DelDOT analyzed the flood vulnerability of State Route 1 between Rehoboth Beach and Fenwick Island and developed conceptual designs for nature-based protection, including marsh restoration and oyster reefs, at two sites. This report is one of five pilot projects FHWA sponsored to assess the potential for natural infrastructure to protect specific locations along coastal roads and bridges. More information on this ongoing research is available on FHWA's Nature-Based Solutions to Coastal Resilience webpage.
A recent FHWA report, Quantification of Flood Event Forcing and the Impact of Natural Wetland, highlights the findings of a recent pilot study to explore coastal flooding solutions for reducing coastal flooding of Great Bay Boulevard in Ocean County, New Jersey. US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) analyzed thin layer placement of sediment to raise the marsh platform elevation in vulnerable locations along the road. USACE also analyzed a combination of oyster beds and native plants at the marsh edge to reduce wave energy. This report is one of five pilot projects FHWA sponsored to assess the potential for natural infrastructure to protect specific locations along coastal roads and bridges. More information on this ongoing research is available on FHWA's Nature-Based Solutions to Coastal Resilience webpage.
In Spring 2018, FHWA hosted four regional peer exchanges to inform the development of an implementation guide and to facilitate information exchange between transportation practitioners and coastal engineers and ecologists on nature-based solutions to protect roads from coastal flooding. The recently-released Peer Exchange Summary Report - Nature-Based Solutions for Coastal Highway Resilience provides a synthesis of the discussion, including project examples, successful approaches, and challenges in planning, permitting, design, and maintenance. More information about the FHWA coastal roads and bridges project, of which these peer exchanges were a part, is available on the project site.
A new AASHTO report, Resiliency Case Studies: State DOT Lessons Learned (pdf), presents the results of an examination of recent extreme weather events that have impacted state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) and describes how the state DOTs responded to the challenges associated with the events. The project study team, consisting of American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and WSP staff, interviewed representatives from eight State DOTs to obtain the lessons learned from each event.
The individual state case study findings are compared with each other and cross-cutting (overlapping or similar), lessons learned are identified. The goal of this report is to disseminate the State DOT lessons learned from the most impactful extreme weather events of the last six years and identify how State DOTs can become more resilient in anticipating and responding to future events, especially given the realities of a changing climate and the potential for changing storm patterns.
Transportation RISE will bring together State DOTs, senior leaders, practitioners, consultants, academics and more to share state-of-the-practice information about how to consider transportation system resilience practices in decision making. FHWA's Acting Administrator, Brandye Hendrickson, will serve as the Keynote Speaker for the Summit. Highlights include presentations and participation by leading practitioners in transportation system resilience, interaction with top leadership from State DOTs, and international examples from Australia, Canada, Germany and The Netherlands. Visit the RISE Conference Website for registration details and access to the full program.
The National Transit Institute (NTI) is offering in-person training opportunities covering its "Introduction to Transportation Conformity" course. This 2.5 day course will present basic information about conformity requirements and the relationship of the transportation and air quality planning processes in order to prepare agency staff (federal, state and local) to participate in interagency consultation and work effectively in resolving conformity issues. For more information and to register, please visit the NTI registration website.
The FHWA posted a 27-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. The training is available via the FHWA's YouTube channel. For more information about the CMAQ program, please contact Mark Glaze at mark.glaze@dot.gov or (202) 366-4053.
The FHWA Resource Center Planning and Air Quality team will be conducting a series of training sessions on 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. Please note this is not a general MOVES training course, but is focused on project-level applications. It is not intended to address regional applications, such as SIP emissions inventories or regional (plan and TIP) conformity analyses. If you are interested in this training, please contact Michael Claggett at michael.claggett@dot.gov.
Two training opportunities are available for MOVES model users. A three-hour webinar provides an introduction to MySQL Query Browser and MOVES interface. A six-hour training over two days will enable users to do MySQL programming and to write their own MySQL scripts and to manipulate MySQL databases including MOVES input and outputs. For more information or to schedule training, please contact Michael Claggett at michael.claggett@dot.gov.
The National Highway Institute (NHI) Air Quality Planning web-based training series is designed for transportation practitioners. It includes four modules: Clean Air Act Overview (FHWA-NHI-142068), State Implementation Plan (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 at (202) 366-9066, or Karen.Perritt@dot.gov with any questions or comments.
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.
