Federal Highway Administration Resource Center

Air Quality Team Sponsors Second Federal Partners’ Roundtable

In early 2004, the FHWA Resource Center Air Quality Technical Service Team held its second Federal Partners’ Roundtable in Atlanta. The Roundtable consists of staff from the FHWA Division Office and FHWA Resource Center staff, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and was initiated as a strategy to help the transportation community to meet the new transportation conformity requirements under the proposed new National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).

With the new NAAQS in place, many areas throughout the Southern and Eastern regions of the country would face new technical and procedural work to ensure their transportation plans and programs do not degrade the Nation’s air quality — and to ensure that transportation projects are not encumbered by the new regulations. The objective of the Roundtable was to establish a collaborative process within the Federal agencies to help each area meet these challenges. Consequently, the Air Quality Technical Service Team brought together representatives from several FHWA Division offices, the FHWA Resource Center, Headquarters, two EPA regions and two FTA regions for this important purpose.

Prior to the meeting, each FHWA Division Office conducted a detailed “status and needs assessment” of their State with regard to air quality planning. It was clear early in the process that there would be a need for training to raise the level of expertise within most States. As a result, the first day of the Roundtable consisted of a “Train-the-Trainer” session that will maximize the effectiveness of the program.

This effort ensured that each representative was knowledgeable of the implications of new regulatory requirements and their Agency role, such that they could provide a basic level of assistance in their respective State. In addition, the Roundtable conducted an analysis of each State’s needs assessment, identifying the Federal partner resources available to meet specific needs.

For more information, contact:

Robert O'Loughlin
Air Quality Technical Service Team Leader
FHWA Resource Center, (415) 744-3823
robert.o'loughlin@fhwa.dot.gov