October 2021 - CMAQ Applicability - Measures - CMAQ - Air Quality - Environment (2024)

As of October 1, 2021

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Table of Contents

• Introduction
  • State DOT Applicability Determination
  • On-Road Mobile Source Emissions Measure Applicability
  • Traffic Congestion Measure Applicability
• MPO Applicability Determination
  • On-Road Mobile Source Emissions Measure Applicability
  • Traffic Congestion Measure Applicability Criteria
• Urbanized Area Targets for Traffic Congestion Measures
• APPENDIX: List of Entities Presented in Applicability Tables 1-5

Table of Tables

• Table 1. State DOTs Required to Establish Targets and Report Performance for the CMAQ Emissions Measure (with Applicable NAAQS and Precursor Pollutants)
• Table 2. State DOTs Required to Establish Targets and Report Progress for the Traffic Congestion Measures (with Applicable Urbanized Areas)
• Table 3. Applicable MPOs for the On-Road Mobile Source Emissions Measure and the CMAQ Performance Plan.
• Table 4. Applicable MPOs for the Traffic Congestion Measures
• Table 5. Agencies Required and Agencies Encouraged to Coordinate in Urbanized Area-Specific Traffic Congestion Targets.

Introduction

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is publishing this list of State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) who are required to establish targets and report progress for the performance measures related to the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program. There are three measures covered within this document, as established in 23 CFR Part 490 (§ 490.707 and § 490.807):

1. Two measures related to traffic congestion: the annual hours peak hour excessive delay per capita (PHED) measure and the percent of non-single occupancy vehicle (non-SOV) measure.
2. One measure related to on-road mobile source emissions: the total emissions reduction measure.

The tables contained within this document present the applicability of the CMAQ traffic congestion and emissions measures for the second performance period for these measures. (23 CFR 490.105(e)(8)(iii) and (e)(9)(v)). The second performance period for the on-road mobile source emissions measure begins on October 1, 2021 and continues through September 30, 2025. The performance period for the traffic congestion measures (PHED and non-SOV measures) begins on January 1, 2022 and runs through December 31, 2025. (23 CFR 490.105(e)(4)).

The FHWA has updated these tables to reflect relevant data as of October 1, 2021. The data used to make the determination of applicability is described throughout this document. In brief, the following notable changes have occurred since the determination of applicability for the first performance period as of October 1, 2017:

• Updated nonattainment and maintenance area designations
  • Remove areas that have reached the end of the 20-year maintenance period
  • Add 2015 ozone nonattainment and maintenance areas
• Updated urbanized area boundaries
• Decrease population threshold for the congestion measures from 1 million to 200,000

Based on the available data on October 1, 2021, the applicability is defined below:

• CMAQ On-road Source Emissions measure:
• State DOTs – 39 State DOTs would be required to establish targets and report for the on-road source emissions measure.¹
• MPOs – The on-road source emissions measure applies to 110 MPOs.² Out of those 110 MPOs, 44 MPOs would be required to submit a CMAQ Performance Plan, as provided in § 490.107(c) and establish quantifiable 2-year and 4-year targets for the on-road source emissions measure, as provided in section 490.105(f)(6)(iii).
• CMAQ Traffic Congestion Measures (for the second performance period)³:
• State DOTs – 39 State DOTs would be required to establish targets and report (§ 490.107) for applicable urbanized areas for the traffic congestion measures.⁴
• MPOs – 83 MPOs would be required to establish targets for the traffic congestion measures for applicable urbanized areas.⁵

State DOT Applicability Determination

On-Road Mobile Source Emissions Measure Applicability

The emissions measure is applicable in State DOTs where any one or more area(s) are designated as nonattainment or maintenance for ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), or PM10 and/or PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), as defined in 23 CFR 490.105(e)(9). For the analysis in this document, the data for nonattainment/maintenance areas was obtained from the U.S. EPA's Green Book, and the State boundaries were obtained from the 2010 Decennial Census from the U.S. Census Bureau. The applicable States were those whose State geographic boundary contains any part of a nonattainment or maintenance area for any one of the criteria pollutants.

Table 1 contains the 39 State DOTs required to establish targets and report performance for the measure, with the applicable NAAQS in each State. For the on-road mobile source emissions measure, state DOTs must set targets for each applicable criteria pollutant and precursor. The applicable precursor pollutants, volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), are provided in Table 1 as well. VOC and NOx are always applicable for all ozone areas and may be applicable in PM10 and PM2.5 areas depending on the state/area's specific pollutant concerns.

Applicability

From 23 CFR 490.803 (in part):

The on-road mobile source emissions performance measure ... is applicable to all States and MPOs with projects financed with funds from the 23 U.S.C. 149 CMAQ program apportioned to State DOTs for areas designated as nonattainment or maintenance for ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), or particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).

Sources

• Nonattainment and maintenance areas and boundaries:
  • Nonattainment and maintenance area applicability was determined based on areas designated in 40 CFR Part 81 (accessed January 22, 2021). For areas whose 20-year maintenance plan concludes by October 1, 2021, verification was provided from U.S. EPA or from the applicable FHWA Division Office. Some data were also verified from the U.S. EPA Green Book.
  • Geographic boundaries for nonattainment and maintenance areas provided by US EPA Green Book, for Carbon Monoxide (1971 Standard); PM10 (1987 Standard); PM2.5 (1997, 2006, and 2012 Standards); and 8-Hour Ozone (2008 and 2015 Standards), accessed on January 22, 2021. This GIS boundary data remains the most recent form US EPA (https://www.epa.gov/green-book/green-book-gis-download). Updated boundary descriptions from 86 FR 31438 (June 14, 2021) was included.
  • For the PM2.5 1997 Standard, the available geospatial data does not include the revocation of the standard for maintenance areas on August 24, 2016. This data was manually updated. See: Federal Register notice for Revocation of PM2.5 1997 Standard, 81 FR 58009.
• State Boundary Data: 2010 TIGER/LINE Shapefile published by the U.S. Census Bureau (Accessed on January 22, 2021): U.S. Census Bureau.

Traffic Congestion Measure Applicability

As specified in 23 CFR 490.105(e)(8)(i), State DOTs with mainline highways on the NHS that cross any part of an urbanized area with a population more than 200,000 within its geographic State boundary and that and that urbanized area contains any part of a nonattainment or maintenance area for any one of the criteria pollutants must establish targets for the traffic congestion measures.

A complete list of 39 State DOTs required to implement the traffic congestion measures is provided in the Table 2.

Applicability

From 23 CFR 490.703:

The CMAQ Traffic Congestion performance measures are applicable to all urbanized areas that include NHS mileage and with a population over 1 million for the first performance period and in urbanized areas with a population over 200,000 for the second and all other performance periods, that are, in all or part, designated as nonattainment or maintenance areas for ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), or particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).

Sources

• Nonattainment and maintenance areas and boundaries:
  • Nonattainment and maintenance area applicability was determined based on areas designated in 40 CFR Part 81 (accessed January 22, 2021). For areas whose maintenance plan concludes by October 1, 2021, verification was provided from U.S. EPA or from the applicable FHWA Division Office. Some data were also verified from the U.S. EPA Green Book.
  • Geographic boundaries for nonattainment and maintenance areas provided by US EPA Green Book, for Carbon Monoxide (1971 Standard); PM10 (1987 Standard); PM2.5 (1997, 2006, and 2012 Standards); and 8-Hour Ozone (2008 and 2015 Standards), accessed on January 22, 2021. This GIS boundary data remains the most recent form US EPA. Updated boundary descriptions from 86 FR 31438 (June 14, 2021) were included.
  • For the PM2.5 1997 Standard, the geospatial data does not include the revocation of the standard for maintenance areas on August 24, 2016. This data was manually updated. See: Federal Register notice for Revocation of PM2.5 1997 Standard, 81 FR 58009.
• Urbanized area boundaries: For the analysis in this document, FHWA used "NHS" and "UrbanCode" Data Item values contained in the Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS)⁶ to determine NHS segments within the urbanized areas above.
• State Boundary Data: 2010 TIGER/LINE Shapefile published by the U.S. Census Bureau (Accessed on January 22, 2021). For instance, if a State is in attainment for the applicable criteria pollutants, but that State is part of a multi-State urbanized area with more than 200,000 in population and another part of that urbanized area contains an applicable nonattainment or maintenance area then the State that is in attainment would be required to work with the other States and establish a traffic congestion target.

Assumptions and Considerations

• Pursuant to 23 CFR 490.105(e)(8), a State DOT must report targets and progress for the traffic congestion measures if the boundaries of an applicable urbanized area fall within the State boundary, whether or not the applicable nonattainment or maintenance area itself is in the State. In the table above, these State DOTs are included.
• For each urbanized area where the measure applies, the State DOTs and MPOs in that area must establish and report a single, unified target.

MPO Applicability Determination

On-Road Mobile Source Emissions Measure Applicability

MPOs that contain all or part of any one or more area(s) designated as nonattainment or maintenance for ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), or particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) are required to set targets for the on-road mobile source emissions measure. (23 CFR 490.105(f)(6) and 490.803) For the analysis in this document, the nonattainment/maintenance data was obtained from the U.S. EPA's Green Book, and the Metropolitan Planning Area boundaries were obtained from FHWA's Office of Planning, Environment and Realty's Website, which provides the Geographic Information System (GIS) Shapefile for Metropolitan Planning Areas (MPOBoundary_01082021.zip). Then the MPOs were selected whose metropolitan planning area (MPA) boundary contains any part of a nonattainment or maintenance area for any one of the criteria pollutants, as provided in 23 CFR 490.105(f)(6).

Table 3 below lists all MPOs that are subject to the on-road mobile source emissions measure (first column). The second column in the table identifies the MPOs that are subject to both requirements for a CMAQ Performance Plan and quantifiable 2-year and 4-year targets for on-road mobile source emissions measure. The remaining MPOs must set 4-year targets. (23 CFR 490.105(f)(6) and 490.107(c)(3)). The applicable criteria pollutants and precursor pollutants are provided. The applicable precursor pollutants, volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) are provided in Table 3. VOC and NOx are always applicable for all ozone areas and may be applicable in PM10 and PM2.5 areas depending on the state/area's specific pollutant concerns.

Applicability

From 23 CFR 490.703:

The CMAQ Traffic Congestion performance measures are applicable to all urbanized areas that include NHS mileage and with a population over 1 million for the first performance period and in urbanized areas with a population over 200,000 for the second and all other performance periods, that are, in all or part, designated as nonattainment or maintenance areas for ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), or particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).

As required in 23 U.S.C. 149(l), each MPO serving a Transportation Management Area (TMA) with a population over 1 million representing nonattainment and maintenance areas must develop a CMAQ Performance Plan, updated biennially, to report baseline condition/performance, targets, projects that will contribute to the targets, and the progress toward achievement of targets for the CMAQ traffic congestion and on-road mobile source emissions measures. Likewise, 23 CFR 490.105(f)(6)(iii) these MPOs must establish quantifiable 2-year and 4-year targets for the metropolitan planning area.

Please see 23 U.S.C. 149(l) and 23 CFR 490.107(c)(3) for the requirements for MPO CMAQ Performance Plan, or refer to FHWA's MPO CMAQ Performance Plan Guidebook.

Sources

• Nonattainment and maintenance areas and boundaries:
  • Nonattainment and maintenance area applicability was determined based on areas designated in 40 CFR Part 81 (accessed January 22, 2021). For areas whose maintenance plan concludes by October 1, 2021, verification was provided from U.S. EPA or from the applicable FHWA Division Office. Some data were also verified from the U.S. EPA Green Book.
  • Geographic boundaries for nonattainment and maintenance areas provided by US EPA Green Book, for Carbon Monoxide (1971 Standard); PM10 (1987 Standard); PM2.5 (1997, 2006, and 2012 Standards); and 8-Hour Ozone (2008 and 2015 Standards), accessed on January 22, 2021. Updated boundary descriptions from 86 FR 31438 (June 14, 2021) were included.
  • For the PM2.5 1997 Standard, the geospatial data does not include the revocation of the standard for maintenance areas on August 24, 2016. This data was manually updated. See: Federal Register notice for Revocation of PM2.5 1997 Standard.
• Urbanized area boundaries: FHWA HEPGIS (FHWA Adj UA_2010.zip accessed on January 22, 2021). HEPGIS reflects all updated urbanized area boundaries included in the HPMS submittal from State DOTs and MPOs.
• Metropolitan Planning Area Data: FHWA HEPGIS (MPOBoundary_01082021.zip accessed on January 22, 2021): HEPGIS MPO Boundaries.
• State Boundary Data: 2010 TIGER/LINE Shapefile published by the U.S. Census Bureau (Accessed on January 22, 2021). For instance, if a State is in attainment for the applicable criteria pollutants, but that State is part of a multi-State urbanized area with more than 200,000 in population and another part of that urbanized area contains an applicable nonattainment or maintenance area, then the State that is in attainment must work with the other States in that urbanized area to establish a traffic congestion target.

Assumptions and Considerations

• Note that the NAAQS applicability requirement under the CMAQ Traffic Congestion measure applies with the presence of any nonattainment or maintenance area for one of the applicable NAAQS, regardless of source (23 CFR 490.105(f)(6)(iii) and 490.803). Thus, the expenditure of CMAQ funds within a metropolitan planning area (MPA) or the requirements to complete transportation conformity are not included in the applicability criteria. As a result, this list includes MPOs serving areas under limited maintenance plans or with US EPA "insignificant motor vehicle emissions finding".

Traffic Congestion Measure Applicability Criteria

Pursuant to 23 CFR 490.105(f)(5)(ii), an MPO must establish targets for the traffic congestion measures when mainline highways on the NHS within that MPOs' metropolitan planning area boundary cross any part of an urbanized area with a population more than 200,000, and that portion of the metropolitan planning area boundary intersecting the urbanized area also includes a nonattainment or maintenance area for any one of the criteria pollutants. (See Table 4)

Applicability

From 23 CFR 490.703:

The CMAQ Traffic Congestion performance measures are applicable to all urbanized areas that include NHS mileage and with a population over 1 million for the first performance period and in urbanized areas with a population over 200,000 for the second and all other performance periods, that are, in all or part, designated as nonattainment or maintenance areas for ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), or particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).

Note that this table only reflects applicability for the second performance period (as of October 1, 2021), for urbanized areas with population greater than 200,000.

Sources

• Nonattainment and maintenance areas and boundaries:
  • Nonattainment and maintenance area applicability was determined based on areas designated in 40 CFR Part 81 (accessed January 22, 2021). For areas whose maintenance plan concludes by October 1, 2021, verification was provided from U.S. EPA or from the applicable FHWA Division Office. Some data were also verified from the U.S. EPA Green Book.
  • Geographic boundaries for nonattainment and maintenance areas were provided by US EPA Green Book, for Carbon Monoxide (1971 Standard); PM10 (1987 Standard); PM2.5 (1997, 2006, and 2012 Standards); and 8-Hour Ozone (2008 and 2015 Standards), accessed on August 3, 2017. Updated boundary descriptions from 86 FR 31438 (June 14, 2021) were included.
  • For the PM2.5 1997 Standard, the geospatial data does not include the revocation of the standard for maintenance areas on August 24, 2016. This data was manually updated. See: Federal Register notice for Revocation of PM2.5 1997 Standard, 81 FR 58009.
• Urbanized area boundaries: For the analysis in this document, FHWA used "NHS" and "Urban Code" Data Item values contained in the Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS)⁸ to determine NHS segments within the urbanized areas above.
• State Boundary Data: 2010 TIGER/LINE Shapefile published by the U.S. Census Bureau (Accessed on January 22, 2021). For instance, if a State is in attainment for the applicable criteria pollutants, but that State is part of a multi-State urbanized area with more than 200,000 in population and another part of that urbanized area contains an applicable nonattainment or maintenance area then the State that is in attainment would be required to work with the other States and establish a traffic congestion target.

Assumptions and Considerations

• According to 23 CFR 490.105(f)(5) and 490.107(c), MPOs are required to report targets and progress for the traffic congestion measures if the boundaries of an applicable urbanized area, NHS mileage and a nonattainment or maintenance area for one of the criteria pollutants falls within the metropolitan planning area (MPA). All four conditions (MPA boundary, applicable urbanized area, NHS mileage, and nonattainment or maintenance area) must intersect for an MPO to be included in the table above. This is different from State DOT applicability because determination of State DOT applicability does not include all 4 conditions, it only includes 3 of the 4 (State boundary, applicable urbanized area, and NHS mileage). Thus, a State DOT must report targets whether or not the applicable nonattainment or maintenance area is within its boundary, while an MPO is not required to report targets if the nonattainment or maintenance area falls outside of the MPA boundary.
• Note that this applicability is more specific than the applicability for the CMAQ MPO Performance Plan and the 2-year target requirements as well, in that it requires NHS mileage to intersect the urbanized area and nonattainment or maintenance area. See 23 CFR 490.105(f)(6)(iii) and 490.107(c)(3).
• State DOTs and MPOs with applicability for this measure are required to establish and report single targets for each applicable urbanized area. (23 CFR 490.105(f)(5)(iii))

Urbanized Area Targets for Traffic Congestion Measures

23 CFR 490.105(e)(8) and 490.105(f)(5) require that all State DOTs and MPOs serving an applicable urbanized area establish a single, unified target for each of the traffic congestion measures for each applicable urbanized area in the country.⁹ As described in 23 CFR490.105(f)(5)(i), if an MPO is not required to establish targets for the traffic congestion measures for an urbanized area, but NHS highways cross any part of an urbanized area with a population more than 200,000 within a metropolitan planning area (MPA) and that urbanized area contains a nonattainment or maintenance area (for any one of the criteria pollutant) outside of its MPA, then that MPO is encouraged to coordinate with relevant State DOT(s) and MPO(s) in the target establishment process for the traffic congestion measures for that urbanized area.

Table 5 below lists all agencies geographically located in the vicinity of the applicable urbanized area and their roles in target selection process.¹⁰ For those agencies listed as "Yes" in the third column, targets must be established and reported as a uniform target for the urbanized area. Agencies listed as "No - but should coordinate in target selection process" are encouraged to coordinate in the target selection for the traffic congestion measures for an urbanized area, as those targets cover the full extent of the urbanized area boundary, but they are not required to establish or report the targets, as provided in 23 CFR 490.105(f)(5)(ii). For detail on the coordination process and the selection of targets, please review 23 CFR 490.105(e) and (f), or contact the FHWA Office of Planning.

APPENDIX: List of Entities Presented in Applicability Tables 1-5

This appendix includes a reference list of all the entities found in Tables 1-5 of the Applicability Tables for the second performance period (data as of October 1, 2021). State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) that are not found on any table are not included. This reference can be used to find entities presented on one or more of the Applicability Tables by state. It is organized first by state alphabetically (column 1) then by entity name alphabetically (column 2). This reference table does not itself provide any requirements for states and MPOs; it merely provides a look-up mechanism to find entities that appear on one or more of Tables 1-5.

Yes = present in table No = not present in table-- = not pertinent to table content

1 Applicability requirements are defined in 23 CFR 490.105(e)(9), and reporting requirements in 23 CFR 490.107.

2 Applicability requirements are defined in 23 CFR 490.105(f)(6).

3 In accordance with 23 CFR 490.105(e)(8)(ii) and (f)(5)(ii), the applicability for the traffic congestion measures changes with the beginning of the second performance period, at which time the measure applies to all urbanized areas with population over 200,000 that also contain NHS mileage and a nonattainment or maintenance area for one of the applicable NAAQS. Accordingly, for the second performance period, the determination of applicability is based on data as of October 1, 2021 for these additional areas.

4 According to 2019 ACS 5-year population estimates, 186 urbanized areas have a population more than 200,000 in each of those urbanized areas. 92 of those 186 urbanized areas include areas designated as nonattainment or maintenance for criteria pollutants. See 23 CFR 490.105(e)(8) for State DOT target establishment requirements.

5 92 urbanized areas with a population more than 200,000, which also have areas designated as nonattainment or maintenance for criteria pollutants. See 23 CFR 490.105(f)(5)(i) for MPO target establishment requirements.

6 2020 HPMS data from all State DOTs.

7 Required only for the Boston urbanized area. Providence urbanized area does not contain any non-attainment or maintenance areas.

8 2020 HPMS data from all State DOTs.

9 23 CFR 490.703: "The CMAQ Traffic Congestion performance measures are applicable to all urbanized areas that include NHS mileage and with a population over 1 million for the first performance period and in urbanized areas with a population over 200,000 for the second and all other performance periods, that are, in all or part, designated as nonattainment or maintenance areas for ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), or particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)."

10 To be considered "in the vicinity" of an urbanized area, part of the urbanized area (as defined in the latest HPMS, see applicability lists above) must cross into the metropolitan planning area (MPA) or State boundary. Agencies without a target setting requirement either have no NHS mileage within that boundary, or no applicable nonattainment or maintenance area that intersect the urbanized area (in the case of MPOs).