Air Quality Contacts
For more information, please contact Victoria Martinez (787-771-2524).
FHWA Announces New Office Director of Natural and Human Environment. Ms. April L. Marchese has been selected as the new Office Director of Natural and Human Environment at FHWA. Ms. Marchese formally served as senior Attorney-Advisor in the Office of Chief Counsel's Program Legal Services Division, where she provided legal advice and conducted legal reviews in the development of environmental policies applicable to federally funded highway projects. She has led major Departmental initiatives, including serving as the Program Manager for a complex environmental impact statement assessing the impact of proposed procedures to allow Mexican trucks and buses to travel throughout the United States pursuant to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). She has also led key leadership positions in the FHWA and the Office of the Secretary. Welcome to our new Director!
CAL3 Interface Web Conference. The Air Quality Technical Service Team of the FHWA Resource Center has designed and constructed an easy-to-use interface for two highway air quality models - the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) California Line Source Dispersion Model (CALINE3) for freeways and CAL3QHC for signalized intersections. The new interface includes interactive graphical forms for entering the required data, organized by commonality: 1) control data; 2) receptor data; 3) link data; and 4) meteorological data. Plus, it allows the models to operate on the Microsoft Windows operating system by providing modes for program execution; displaying results in a summary table, bar graph, or model printout; and opening, saving, and printing data files. A web conference will be held Wednesday, September 14 from 1:00 - 3:00 EST (10:00 - 12:00 PST) to explain how the interface functions. The session is limited to the first 15 registrants. Register now at : http://www.nhi.fhwa.dot.gov/training/course_search.aspx. For more information, please contact Michael Claggett at Michael.Claggett@fhwa.dot.gov. The Instructions for participating in the web conference and downloading and installing the software will be sent to registrants.
Estimating Regional Mobile Source Emissions (NHI 152071A). This 3.5-day course is being offered in Albany, NY from August 9-12. The course provides an overview of travel demand forecasting models, emission factor models and travel related data requirements, travel model and emission factor model interactions and assessing transportation control measure (TCM) effectiveness and impacts on emissions. To register, contact Chris O'Neill at: co'neill@CDTCMPO.org
Basic Guide to Transportation Conformity for State and Local Officials. FHWA has recently updated the Basic Guide. See: www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/air_quality/conformity/guide/.
Transportation Conformity and the New Air Quality Standards - Frequently Asked Questions. FHWA recently posted a list of frequently asked questions on implementing transportation conformity requirements under the new Ozone and PM2.5 standards at: www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/air_quality/conformity/policy_and_guidance/faqs/tcfaqs.cfm.
AMPO Air Quality Work Group Summer Meeting. On June 27 and 28, AMPO's Air Quality Work Group met in Washington, D.C. Twelve MPOs were represented and the very full agenda included an excellent exchange of information on a variety of air quality and conformity topics.
PM2.5 Transportation Conformity Workshops. In August and September, EPA and FHWA are offering workshops on PM2.5 conformity requirements. The schedule and location is provided below.
NTI Course: Introduction to Transportation Conformity. Courses will be offered in Baton Rouge, LA on August 22-24, and Burbank, CA on October 26-28. Additional courses are being scheduled through February 2006. For information and to register go to: www.ntionline.com/CourseInfo.asp?CourseNumber=FP213
FHWA Resource Center Training Activities.FHWA's Resource Center Air Quality Technical Services Team is available to offer air quality-related training opportunities and information can be found at: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/resourcecenter/teams/airquality/courses.cfm.
If you have any suggestions for future monthly conformity highlights, please email: ssiwek@aol.com.
FHWA Resource Center Air Quality Team Contacts:
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/resourcecenter/teams/airquality/index.cfm.
