Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program

1. Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program Energy Law, Fall 2010 Natashia Holmes natashiaholmes@sbcglobal.net

2. Presentation Outline • Brief review of 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act which impacted the development of federal transportation programs • Overview of the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program • Case Study: Northeastern Illinois’ implementation of the CMAQ program • CMAQ policy considerations for the next federal transportation bill

3. Clean Air Act • Originally enacted in 1977 • Made significant improvements in U.S. air quality….but environmental and health issues due to urban air pollution persisted

4. Clean Air Act, 1990 amendments • Congress’ effort to strengthen efforts to meet National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) • Targeted reducing main culprits of urban air pollution: • Allowed EPA to designate boundaries of ‘nonattainment’ areas • Particulate Matter • Ozone (smog)

5. ‘Nonattainment’ areas • Geographical area whose air quality does not meet federal air quality standards designed to protect public health Source: United States Environmental Protection Agency

6. Intermodal Surface Transportation and Efficiency Act (ISTEA) • Enacted in 1991, first multi-year federal transportation funding program • Focused on multi-modal, environmentally sensitive, transportation planning • Established the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program to implement ambient air quality standards

7. Following ISTEA… • CMAQ was reauthorized in the Transportation Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21, 1998), and • Safe Accountable Flexible Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU, 2005)* • Emphasis remains on intermodal connections, quality of life, clean air and economic competitiveness SAFETEA-LU expired Sept. 20, 2009, but has since been operating under continuing resolutions at original authorization levels.

8. Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Improvement Program • First federal transportation program explicitly targeting air quality improvement • Serves to implement the air quality standards set by the 1990 Clean Air Act • Provides funding to states to use in ‘nonattainment ‘ areas for projects that help address air quality concerns from transportation sources

9. CMAQ: Program Goals • Improving Air Quality • Relieving Congestion Natural Gas Filing station High-Occupancy Vehicle Lane (HOV)

10. CMAQ: Statutory Requirements • Conformity Analysis • Ensures that federal transportation funding goes only to transportation activities that are consistent with federal clean air goals • Emissions Analysis • Projects seeking funding must estimate the expected emissions, with particular attention to CO, VOCs, NOx, PM, for the purposes of project evaluation and selection

11. CMAQ: Program Administration • Funding is provided to either a State or Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) • MPOs are federally mandated for areas of a state with 50,000+ population, and as a condition for spending federal highway or transit funds in urbanized areas, have responsibility for planning, programming and coordination of federal highway and transit investments.

12. CMAQ: Projects Eligible for Funding • General Categories of Funding: • Traffic flow improvements • Shared ride programs • Travel Demand Management • Bicycle/ pedestrian facilities, programs • Transit improvements • Other projects…. • Traditional funding ratio is 80 percent (federal share)/20 (local share) • However, the Energy Independence and Security Actof 2007provided for up to a 100 percent Federal share for CMAQ projects in FY 2008 and 2009.

13. CMAQ: Project Prerequisite • Eligible projects must be included in the MPO’s/Statewide Transportation Improvement Program • Transportation Improvement Program is prioritized listing/program of transportation projects covering a period of four years that is developed by an MPO as part of the metropolitan transportation planning process, and required for projects to be eligible for federal funding

14. Case Study: Northeastern Illinois’ implementation of CMAQ • Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) • Metropolitan Planning Organization for the northeastern Illinois region • Responsible for the development of a comprehensive regional for the northeastern Illinois region (GoTo2040) • Responsible for the development and maintenance of travel forecasting methods used in the air quality conformity analysis of transportation improvement programs and regional transportation plans • Administers and implements the CMAQ program for the northeastern Illinois metropolitan area

15. Northeastern Illinois at a glance... • Commonly referred to as ‘metropolitan Chicago’ • 9.5 million population • Encompasses seven counties • 3rd largest intermodal hub in the world • 3rd worst congested metropolitan area in the US

16. Transportation hub = air pollution • Northeastern Illinois does not meet national ambient air quality standards for ground-level ozone (smog) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), such as soot

17. Northeastern Illinois = nonattainment • Moderate non-attainment area for the 8-hour ozone standard, and • Non-attainment area for the annual fine particulate matter (PM2.5) standard

18. CMAP Project Selection Process • CMAP issues ‘Call for projects’ • Applicants must submit a proposal for one of the eligible project funding categories • CMAP’s Project Selection Committee reviews the applications and ranks them according to the evaluation methodology • Projects selected for funding become a part of the TIP • Non-exempt projects are the only CMAQ projects ‘modeled’ for conformity before they are included in the TIP

19. CMAP Project Evaluation Methodology CMAQ Program VOC Emission Reduction s • Primary ranking: cost per kilogram of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) eliminated over the life of the project. • Additional ranking categories: • cost per kilogram of nitrogen oxides (NOx) eliminated; • cost per thousand vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) eliminated; • and cost per thousand trips eliminated.

20. 2010-2011 Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, CMAQ funding distribution

21. Source: Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning

22. CMAQ Policy Considerations for the next federal transportation bill • Should the metropolitan planning process take in consideration the location of generators for the purpose of locating charging stations (electric cars)? • Should the MPO Policy Committee be expanded to include a representative from the ICC and the EPA? • Should project criteria be more strictly defined and used only for projects that directly eliminate one person auto-use? • Should the ability to ‘flex’ CMAQ funds be eliminated? • Should rail infrastructure improvements be allowed, if air quality benefits and congestion relief result from the project?

23. Sources • Federal Highway Administration, http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ • Federal Transit Administration, http://www.fta.dot.gov/ • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov/ • Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, http://www.cmap.illinois.gov/ • Metropolitan Planning Council, http://www.metroplanning.org/ • Illinois Department of Transportation, http://www.dot.il.gov/ • Texas Transportation Institute, 2009 Annual Urban Mobility Report, http://mobility.tamu.edu/ums/ • Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Project, http://www.createprogram.org/

24. Thank you!