Near-Road Air Quality Assessments and Support Services for the Transportation Pooled Fund

From 2014 to 2019, Sonoma Technology assessed near-road air quality, conducted emissions and air quality modeling, and provided near-road support services for a Transportation Pooled Fund (TPF) led by WSDOT. The TPF partnership also included the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and state Departments of Transportation from Arizona, California, Colorado, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia.<br>

Our work for the TPF included developing tools, analyses, and other materials to address near-road requirements. Our peer-reviewed publications discussed our findings on <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3141/2570-02" target="_blank">forecasted emissions</a href> and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0361198119825538" target="_blank">measured U.S. near-road air quality</a href>. We helped the TPF partnership better understand (1) emissions data in order to identify situations in which traffic will not create air quality problems; (2) modeled vs. measured near-road air quality; (3) the potential air quality benefits of near-road barriers (sound walls and vegetation); and (4) U.S. near-road air quality trends. To support our sponsors, Sonoma Technology also developed an information-exchange website for transportation and air quality planners, and presented research findings at numerous venues, including the <a href="http://www.trb.org/AnnualMeeting/AnnualMeeting.aspx" target="_blank">U.S. Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting</a href>.<br>

A <a href="https://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/trnews/trnews332.pdf" target="_blank">summary of the TPF’s major findings</a href> was published by the U.S. Transportation Research Board’s <a href="https://www.trb.org/Publications/Blurbs/182193.aspx" target="_blank">TR News Magazine</a href>. TR News Magazine is copyright by the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; posted with permission of the Transportation Research Board.</p>