Air Quality Contacts
For more information, please contact Victoria Martinez.
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FHWA welcomes its newest air quality staff member, Chris Dresser, an Air Quality Modeling Specialist, who joined the Resource Center Environment, Air Quality and Realty Technical Service Team. Chris joined us from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 8 Office where he was an Environmental Scientist, subject matter expert on EPA's MOVES model, and served as the MOVES Team Leader. Chris is a nationally recognized expert in transportation and air quality and will be supporting FHWA's work on emissions, and dispersion and traffic noise modeling. Please see the Contacts section at the end of this newsletter to reach out to our new team member.
By October 1, 2020, State DOTs must submit their Mid Performance Period Progress Report to FHWA. States will also submit updated biannual metropolitan planning organization (MPO) Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ) Performance Plans that are due from any MPOs in their State subject to the requirement to develop such plan. The reporting portal, the Performance Management Form (PMF), is open on September 1, 2020.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is continuing to develop a series of tools to provide technical support for the implementation of the CMAQ Program. This CMAQ Emission Reductions Calculator is offered as an additional resource to assist departments of transportation (DOTs), metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), and project sponsors in the project justification process. All modules are available on the FHWA CMAQ Emissions Calculator Toolkit webpage. For more information, please contact Mark Glaze (Mark.Glaze@dot.gov or 202-366-4053).
Most recently, the Managed Lane Facilities and Conversions tool was updated, and FHWA hosted a webinar to demonstrate the Alternative Fuels and Vehicles and the Dust Mitigation tools. Recordings of these and other training webinars are available via the toolkit website. The toolkit is accessible here.
The 2020 CMAQ Cost-Effectiveness Tables update was released in July 2020 and is available on the CMAQ website. A webinar with details on this release is also available on the CMAQ website. These tables are intended to provide information to assist States, MPOs, and other project sponsors as they make the most efficient use of their CMAQ funding to reduce vehicle emissions and traffic congestion.
FHWA recently announced the fourth round of designations for the Alternative Fuel Corridors program. With the designation of these new corridors, FHWA is continuing to establish a national network of alternative fueling and charging infrastructure along national highway system corridors.
In addition, FHWA has released a summary report of the five regional Alternative Fuel Corridors Convenings held in 2018 and 2019. The report contains information and perspectives from across the country on the installation of alternative fuel infrastructure along highway corridors.
Visit the Alternative Fuel Corridors website to learn about the new designations, view the updated corridor maps and information, and the new report.
FHWA hosted a webinar on June 24, 2020, delving into two steps critical to building nature-based solutions for coastal highways: finding partners and finding funding. Speakers from FHWA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), and the Delaware DOT (DelDOT) discussed available funding and partnership opportunities to support these strategies. A webinar recording and additional information are available via FHWA's Resilience Webinars and Nature-Based Resilience for Coastal Highways webpages.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) recently developed an applicant toolkit as part of the Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success (ROUTES) Initiative, which aims to address rural transportation infrastructure disparities. The ROUTES applicant toolkit helps rural communities better identify and navigate U.S. DOT discretionary grant funding opportunities. It provides user-friendly information to build understanding of various discretionary grant programs and application processes, including a matrix of funding opportunities, key applicant activities during the funding life cycle, featured rural transportation projects, and other resources to maximize award success.
On August 14, 2020, the USEPA published a proposed rule in the Federal Register on the review of the ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). EPA proposed to retain the existing ozone NAAQS, at 0.070 ppm. Fact sheets and other resources on the review of the ozone standard are also posted on EPA's website.
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Transportation Research Board (TRB) recently released National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 938, a guidebook on incorporating the costs and benefits of adaptation measures. The guidebook was developed to fill some gaps in analyzing costs and benefits of various adaptation measures, as identified by State DOTs. It aims to support transportation practitioners with more readily considering cost-benefit analysis in investment-decision making processes when considering adaptation alternatives. The report also includes other resources, such as a list of guidelines for using cost-benefit analysis, a slide presentation summarizing the research, and a couple spreadsheet tools to support State DOT practitioners. For access to the report and these additional resources, please visit TRB's NCHRP Report 938 website.
NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science has issued a notice of funding availability, soliciting research grant proposals in two focal areas: coastal resilience and surface transportation resilience. This Federal Funding Opportunity will support research to inform adaptation planning and coastal management decisions. A letter of intent (LOI) is required prior to submission of a full proposal. LOIs are due October 16, 2020. For additional information, visit NOAA's website
The AASHTO CMAQ Task Force is holding monthly teleconferences, open to all AASHTO members. The task force is a forum for communications, guidance, and resources focused on the CMAQ program, providing recommendations and support to State DOTs. The CMAQ task force meetings are a venue to engage fellow AASHTO members, and FHWA provides regular updates at each monthly meeting. For further information, please contact the AASHTO Committee on Planning (committeeonplanning@aashto.org) or visit the task force website.
The Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations has announced their Annual Conference will be held virtually on October 27 – 29, 2020. More details about the conference will be announced soon. If you have any questions, please contact Sarah Hicks at shicks@ampo.org or 202-624-3682.
FHWA's Resource Center Environment, Air Quality & Realty Team is available to offer MOVES and other trainings. Please contact Mike Claggett, at Michael.Claggett@dot.gov, 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"). These training opportunities range in level of detail from a short 27-minute video providing a high-level basic overview of transportation conformity to a detailed set of 32 self-directed training modules. Recordings of two webinars are available: basic transportation conformity overview (June 12, 2018, 70 minutes) and basic MOVES emissions model training (June 18, 2018, 42 minutes).
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, at david.kall@dot.gov, or 202-366-6276.
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 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 Environment, Air Quality & Realty Team will be conducting 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. 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 State Implementation Plan (SIP) emissions inventories or regional (plan and transportation improvement plan) conformity analyses. If you are interested in this training, please contact Michael Claggett at michael.claggett@dot.gov.
FHWA has started a TNM Playlist on its YouTube Channel, with 6 initial videos. These videos demonstrate how to install TNM, set up a project, and begin to conduct basic tasks in the software. More videos will be posted throughout the year and each will be a short-format demonstration of 1 or 2 specific topics relating to using TNM. To access the playlist please visit the TNM Training page. For technical assistance with TNM please contact TNMHelp@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), 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.
