Section 4: Regional and Project Level Conformity

Overview

Public transportation projects proposed for federal funding must meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act (
42 USC 85
Air Pollution Prevention and Control) in addition to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). To accomplish this, the Act addresses criteria air pollutants that are regulated through the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Air quality conformity is a process intended to ensure that federal funding goes to transportation activities that are consistent with the air quality goals set forth in the Clean Air Act.

Regional and Project Level Conformity Process

Air quality conformity applies to two levels of transportation activity:
  1. To Metropolitan Transportation Plans (MTPs) and Transportation Improvement Plans (TIPs) develop by Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) in accordance with the Federal Highway Administration-FTA planning regulation (
    23 CFR 450
    Planning Assistance and Standards).
  2. To projects funded by FTA and located in areas that do not meet (nonattainment areas), or previously have not met (maintenance areas) the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for a transportation-related pollutant.
For project-level conformity, FTA must find that a transit project located in a nonattainment or maintenance area meets the project-level conformity requirements before FTA can make a grant for any element of that project’s implementation. To conform, a transit project must come from a currently conforming Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) and Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), must not cause or contribute to any air quality hot spots, and must follow any other requirement in the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for air quality that pertain to the project.

Air Quality and Conformity Interagency Contract

Traffic Analysis guides and supports the Technical Working Group (TWG) on air quality and conformity, develops and documents methods and procedures for on-road mobile emissions estimates for planning and conformity demonstrations, performs air quality and emissions analyses for conformity, and conducts technical and policy analysis on approved air quality topics.
The program oversees and coordinates the air quality conformity interagency contract and reviews conformity documentation (
40 CFR 93.110
Criteria and Procedures: Latest Planning Assumptions). Conformity requirements for transportation are found in Section 176(c) of the Clean Air Act (
42 USC 7506(c)
Limitations on Certain Federal Assistance).