Office of Planning, Environment, & Realty (HEP)
Planning • Environment • Real Estate
The Project Sponsor, ALDOT, requested that the interagency consultation group meet to discuss this project and determine the steps to take relative to a qualitative PM2.5 Hot-Spot Analyses. The Interagency Group met on January 29, 2007, to discuss the two projects. Agencies represented included the Federal Highway Administration, Alabama Department of Transportation, Alabama Department of Environmental Management, Environmental Protection Agency, Jefferson County Department of Health and the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham. Through the interagency consultation process it was determined that this project is a project of air quality concern and a qualitative hot-spot analysis was the appropriate way to proceed for this project. The interagency consultation group determined that there was not another location with similar characteristics suitable for comparison. The interagency consultation group recommended developing the qualitative analysis based upon existing air quality studies.2
APD-471(038) and IM-1065(303) are included in the conforming 2030 Long Range Transportation Plan and the conforming 2006 to 2008 Transportation Improvement Program. On March 29, 2006, the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration in consultation with the US Environmental Protection Agency, issued a formal finding that the 2030 LRTP AND 2006 - 2008 TIP conform with the State Implementation Plan(SIP) and satisfy the requirements outlined in 40 CFR Parts 51 and 93. These segments are expected to have an open-to-traffic date of 2012. For regional conformity determination they are included in model runs for the year 2015 and in the subsequent model runs for 2017, 2025 and 2030.
The projects design level and scope are consistent with the project as included in the conforming transportation plan (2030 LRTP) and transportation improvement program (2006- 2008 TIP).
Exhibit 3, NOx for PM reduction and Exhibit 4, Total PM Reduction demonstrate the impact on air quality over the life of the 2030 Long Range Transportation Plan, Exhibit 5, Summary tabulates the information for the current PM 2.5 regional conformity determination. It demonstrates that future-year emissions are no greater than the emissions for the base year 2002.
Exhibit 3: NOx for PM Reduction
Exhibit 4: Total PM Reduction
| 2002 | 2009 | 2015 | 2017 | 2025 | 2030 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total PM | 0.998 | 0.708 | 0.575 | 0.585 | 0.602 | 0.653 |
| Base year PM | 0.998 | 0.998 | 0.998 | 0.998 | 0.998 | 0.998 |
| NOx for PM | 61.112 | 38.224 | 22.978 | 20.381 | 15.252 | 15.025 |
| Base year NOx | 61.112 | 61.112 | 61.112 | 61.112 | 61.112 | 61.112 |
The 2030 Long-Range Transportation Plan and the 2006-2008 Transportation Improvement Program for Jefferson and Shelby counties have demonstrated conformity with the applicable federal requirements. In the submission by the Birmingham Area MPO for PM2.5, the modeled emissions for both direct PM and NOx were below the interim conformity test (the baseline year 2002 emissions).
