The Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement or CMAQ program offered via the Federal Highway Administration provides funding to state and local governments for transportation projects and programs that reduce emissions and help improve air quality and congestion. And to help those agencies track the emissions benefits of their projects, the FHWA developed and is now rolling out a new CMAQ Emissions Calculator Toolkit.
“CMAQ project justification as well as annual reporting require the development of reliable air quality benefit estimates,” the agency explained. “Realizing that every potential project sponsor may not have the capacity for developing independent air quality benefit estimates, the FHWA has undertaken the initiative of developing a series of spreadsheet based tools to facilitate the calculation of representative air quality benefit data.”
There are 10 tools currently available which cover a wide range of CMAQ-eligible project types, including: bicycle-pedestrian improvements; transit service and fleet expansion; alternative fuels and vehicles; diesel retrofit/repower; and traffic flow improvements.
More information about the new CMAQ tools can be found by clicking here.