United States Air and Radiation EPA420-F-97-027
Environmental Protection December 1997
Agency
Office of Mobile Sources
SEPA Environmental
Fact Sheet
DOT/EPA Transportation and Air
Quality Public Information Initiative
The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) and the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are working together to support
and facilitate the efforts of state and local governments to meet their
congestion and air quality goals under the Intermodal Surface
Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) and the Clean Air Act (CAA).
Objectives
The Transportation and Air Quality Public Information Initiative is
designed increase public awareness of the connection between travel
behavior and air quality, alternative modes of transportation, and the
importance of travel choices on traffic congestion and air quality.
Significance
The American public wants both mobility and clean air. While progress
has been made in achieving both of these goals, significant challenges
remain to reduce congestion levels and improve air quality. Growth in
vehicle travel contributes to traffic congestion and air pollution and,
unless technology improvements keep pace, could begin to offset emis-
sions reductions made through cleaner cars and fuels. Consequently, a
successful community-based program will help address increases in
miles driven by encouraging people to consider a range of travel choices
including ride-sharing, trip chaining, using public transit, and
telecommuting.
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Partners
• U.S. DOT - Federal Highway Adminis-
tration
• U.S. DOT - Federal Transit Administra-
tion
• U.S. EPA - Office of Mobile Sources
The federal partners are working
collaboratively with local communities on
the transportation and air quality public
information initiative.
Initiative Design
Meeting the objectives of the initiative
requires a carefully coordinated and
consistent effort. Thus, the federal partners
are beginning a long term initiative
on both the national and local levels.
There are four primary components to the
initiative: pilot tests, coalition building,
outreach and communication, and
evaluation.
Four communities were chosen to create
pilots at the local level:
• Dover, Delaware
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Albany, New York
• San Francisco, California
Each pilot site will design a customized
community-based approach to assess
the community's specific public involve-
ment and informational needs and
capabilities in order to mitigate air quality
and congestion concerns. The pilot
products and processes will be adaptable to
other, similar communities across
the country. Pilot sites will be given
technical assistance, creative materials,
and limited start-up funding by the federal
partners.
Federal and local sponsoring agencies will
work closely with community
planners, businesses, and transportation,
public health and environmental partners to
develop a coalition infrastructure at pilot
sites and the national level.
This infrastructure is designed to insure the
sustainability of this initiative. The
coalitions will bring together partners
representing organizations with diverse
interests to share their perspectives and
seek common ground.
Local coalition members will assess local
air quality and transportation concerns,
develop appropriate local transportation
strategies, communicate these to the driv-
ing public, and work with the public to
encourage individual choices to improve
air quality and mitigate congestion. At the
national level, coalition members will work
together to develop and disseminate consis-
tent, timely, and accurate communication
tools and design public outreach activities
based on widely accepted technical infor-
mation for use nationwide.
The national and local communication
effort will explain through information
dissemination and public involvement how
alternatives to driving alone can meet a
person's mobility needs while reducing
stress, saving time and money, and provid-
ing time for personal activities during
travel. The national and local efforts will
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complement each other. The national effort
will support and reinforce efforts at the
local level. Community efforts will com-
municate regionally specific solutions to
issues of national prominence.
The pilot evaluation will assess the effec-
tiveness and long-term potential value
of this community-based approach. The
partners will measure changes in driver
awareness levels and attitudes toward
transportation and air quality issues. In
addition, they will establish baseline
measures by collecting information on
long-term changes in use of carpools/
vanpools, use of public transit, trip chain-
ing, and telecommuting at each pilot site.
Evaluation will be a significant component
of the nation-wide public information
initiative as well.
Federal Support
The national initiative will be launched
soon after the pilot test program is
completed. The federal partners will then
publicize the initiative beginning in
late 1998. Interested communities can
apply via one of the three Agency
contacts listed below to receive technical
assistance, the materials necessary to
implement the campaign, and limited start-
up funds. Local organizations will be
selected to receive federal support based
on: 1) local congestion and air quality
conditions; 2) their enthusiasm and willing-
ness to conduct a transportation and
air quality public information effort; and 3)
their ability to engender community
support for sound transportation choices to
sustain this effort in the long term.
For Further Information
For more information on the DOT/EPA
Transportation and Air Quality Public
Information Initiative, please contact:
Joann Jackson-Stephens
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
2565 Plymouth Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Phone: (734)668-4276
Fax: (734)668-4531
E-mail:
jackson-stephens.joann@epamail.epa.gov
Kathy Daniel
Federal Highway Administration
Office of Environment and Planning
Phone: (202)366-6276
E-mail: kathleen.daniel@fhwa.dot.gov
Abbe Marner
Federal Transit Administration
Office of Planning
Phone: (202)366-0096
E-mail: abbe.marner@fta.dot.gov
This fact sheet and additional information
on transportation and air quality are avail-
able electronically on the EPA Internet
server on the World Wide Web at:
http ://www. epa.gov/OMSWWW/
transp.htm
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