United States Air and Radiation EPA400-F-99-001
Environmental Protection February 1999
Agency
v>EPA Environmental
Update
Air Quality Opportunities in the
Transportation Equity Act for the
21st Century (TEA-21)
WhatisTEA-21?
The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) authorizes
expenditures of $218 billion from 1998 to 2003 to fund the development
and maintenance of the nation's transportation infrastructure, while
protecting the environment and enhancing economic growth. The largest
public works program ever authorized, it will have a significant impact
on the air quality programs and issues being addressed by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Department of Transpor-
tation (DOT), and state and local agencies.
TEA-21 contains specific programs and provisions that offer great
potential for air quality improvement and other environmental benefits.
These provisions, highlighted below, encourage the following measures:
reduced single occupant vehicle travel; lower vehicle emissions rates;
alternative travel patterns and behavior that reduce vehicle miles traveled;
and integrated air quality policies to reduce air pollution from the trans-
portation sector. States and local communities can take advantage of
these provisions to obtain federal funding for transportation projects that
include these and other measures.
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and Air
Program
Authorized funding for the Congestion
Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ)
Improvement Program increased from
approximately $1.1 billion per year under
the Intermodal Surface Transportation
Efficiency Act (ISTEA), to approximately
$1.5 billion per year under TEA-21. Fund-
ing is still targeted to ozone nonattainment
areas, but includes carbon monoxide and
particulate matter nonattainment areas as
well. The law also makes maintenance
areas and the nonattainment areas newly
designated under the 1997 revisions to the
National Ambient Air Quality Standards
eligible for CMAQ funds. TEA-21 requires
DOT and EPA to request the National
Academy of Sciences to study the air
quality benefits of CMAQ.
TEA-21 requires earlier and improved
coordination of all environmental reviews
for transportation projects. Under the new
process federal agencies will work together
more closely in considering potential
impacts of transportation projects on air
quality plans, endangered species, storm
water permitting, the National Environ-
mental Policy Act compliance, and wet-
lands. The Secretary of Transportation is to
establish a coordinated environmental
review process for federal agencies, ensur-
ing that major transportation projects are
advanced within time frames determined
cooperatively with the other federal agen-
cies.
(STP)
The Surface Transportation Program (STP)
provides flexible funding that allows states
and localities to shift funds among various
program categories to invest in a wide
variety of transportation projects, including
but not limited to highways. TEA-21
expands and clarifies STP eligibilities, and
includes environmental projects such as
natural habitat mitigation, storm water
retrofit, programs to reduce extreme cold
starts of vehicles and capital and opera-
tional improvements for infrastructure-
based intelligent transportation systems.
and
Transportation enhancement activities
continue to be funded through a 10 percent
set-aside from STP funds and a new one
percent set-aside from FTA's urban formula
grant funds. The list of eligible projects
include, but are not limited to: bicycle and
pedestrian pathways, safety education
activities for pedestrians and bicyclists,
transit improvements, rails-to-trails conver-
sions, and other projects that improve the
environmental qualities of existing trans-
portation facilities.
to
TEA-21 changes the Internal Revenue
Code to help level the playing field be-
tween parking benefits and commuting
benefits (Commuter Choice). For employ-
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ees, the limit on nontaxable transit and
vanpool benefits will increase from $65 per
month to $100 per month in 2002. The
changes also make it easier for an employer
to offer transit and vanpool benefits or cash
to an employee in lieu of free parking.
strating the feasibility and desirability of
coordinating local transportation, environ-
mental, and land-use policies and pro-
grams. TEA-21 authorizes $20 million in
the 1999 fiscal year and $25 million in
subsequent years for this pilot program.
Replacing the Congestion Pricing Pilot
Program authorized by ISTEA, the Value
Pricing Pilot Program provides funding for
pilot projects that establish pricing strate-
gies for access to roads and bridges. Such
programs are aimed at reducing congestion
and air pollution. The program allows some
exceptions to the usual rules on federally
funded highway projects, including the use
of tolls on the Interstate System or permit-
ting vehicles with fewer than two occu-
pants to operate in high occupancy vehicle
lanes, so long as consideration is given to
potential impacts on low-income drivers.
For
For a full text of TEA-21, DOT fact sheets,
CMAQ Program data, and outreach infor-
mation, visit the DOT's website at:
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov.
For more information on transportation and
air quality programs, visit the EPA's Trans-
portation Air Quality (TRAQ) Center
website at:
http ://www. epa.gov/oms/traq
or call the TRAQ Center Information
Request Line at:
(734)214-4100.
Preservation
The Transportation and Community and
System Preservation (TCSP) Pilot Program
encourages areas to investigate the relation-
ships between transportation, community
and system preservation, and private
sector-based initiatives. The program
provides funding, through a competitive
grant process, to state and local govern-
ments and to metropolitan planning organi-
zations for discretionary planning and
implementation, with the aim of demon-
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