Isolated Rural Areas US EPA Conformity Training Summer 2004 Eddie Dancausse FHWA NC Division x112

2 Outline of this Session l Types of Areas l Metropolitan vs. Isolated Rural Areas l Test Requirements l Regional Emissions Analyses l Flexibility

3 Refresher: Types of Areas l Isolated rural areas: those nonattainment or maintenance areas which dont have an MPO and whose projects arent part of any MPOs regional emissions analysis (population less than 50,000) l Metropolitan areas: areas that have an MPO and have a plan/TIP (population of at least 50,000) lDonut areas: outside the metropolitan planning boundary but inside the nonattainment/maintenance area boundary

4 Grace Period in Isolated Rural Areas l Isolated rural areas have 1-year grace period for new standards l Projects can be approved during grace period without conformity determination l After grace period, new project or project phase approvals require a conformity determination

5 What actions require conformity? l Isolated Rural Areas: l Conformity only done for FHWA/FTA projects in the nonattainment or maintenance area l Conformity not done on statewide plans and statewide TIPs (STIPs) l Conformity does not change DOTs requirements for statewide plans and STIPs

6 What actions require conformity? l Metropolitan Areas: l transportation plans and TIPs l FHWA/FTA projects l Isolated Rural Areas: l no plan or TIP l FHWA/FTA projects Continued

7 Who Does Conformity? l Metropolitan Areas: l MPO and US DOT make the plan or TIP conformity determination l Project conformity determination prepared by sponsor (e.g., MPO, state DOT) for US DOT conformity determination l Isolated Rural Areas: l Project conformity determination often prepared by state DOT for US DOT conformity determination

8 When and How Often is Conformity Done? l Metropolitan Areas: l Subject to frequency requirements for plan/TIP conformity determinations l Isolated Rural Areas: l Not subject to frequency requirements for plan/TIP conformity determinations (i.e., isolated rural areas do not lapse) l Conformity done when an FHWA/FTA project needs approval

9 Test Requirements for Isolated Rural Areas (93.109(l)) l latest planning assumptions l latest emissions model l consultation l (d) -- timely implementation of TCMs l hot spots l PM 10 and PM 2.5 control measures l / budget test or interim emissions test(s)

10 Refresher: Regional Emissions Analysis l Regional emissions analysis for an isolated rural area must: »include all regionally significant projects, including regionally significant non-federal projects (see definition in ) »estimate VMT from entire transportation system including all FHWA/FTA projects (non-regionally significant FHWA/FTA projects must be estimated through reasonable professional practice, (a)(1)) »cover the transportation planning horizon (generally 20 years)

11 Regional Emissions Analysis Metropolitan Areas: l FHWA/FTA projects in the plan/TIP and regionally significant non-federal projects l plan covers at least 20 years Isolated Rural Areas: l projects funded or approved by FHWA/FTA in statewide plan or STIP are grouped together and analyzed with all other regionally significant projects expected in the area l over timeframe of the statewide transportation plan (or at least 20 years)

12 Regional Conformity Tests for Years of SIP l Metropolitan and isolated rural areas both demonstrate conformity with the budget test and applicable SIP budgets

13 Regional Test Options after the SIP (93.109(I)(2)(ii)) Metropolitan Areas: l must continue to demonstrate conformity to latest SIP budget(s) Isolated Rural Areas: l have flexibility to choose: »budget test »interim emissions test(s), or »demonstrate through modeling used in the SIP that project conforms