Transportation
& Air Quality
Regional News
Call for Proposals
The Texas Joint Center for Transportation & Air Quality, a HARC program, is soliciting proposals for funding as part of the 2007 program. Proposal topics must address one of four selected research areas (biodiesel, information communication technology, MOBILE 6, or vehicle scrappage) and be applicable to the Houston or Dallas/Fort Worth nonattainment regions. Proposal applications will be accepted until the close date of May 24, 2007. Please visit the following link for more information.Joint Center 2007 Request for Proposals
Dallas Selected for National Pilot Project
The City of Dallas has been picked as the first city to test a versatile initiative to help bring cleaner air to the area. Sustainable Skylines is a joint EPA venture involving the City, EPA Region 6, and the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) in a package of 3-year projects. This venture could serve as a national model for clean air and community improvement. The Dallas project has seven components including a strategy to place ultra-low or zero-emitting vehicles in taxi fleets.EPA News Release - Sustainable Skylines
Joint Center Advisory Committee to Meet in June
The Center's Advisory Committee will meet at HARC on June 27, 2007, to review Center activities, plans, and future projects. The Committee includes participants from universities, governmental entities, and non-profits. This is the second annual meeting of the Committee. For more information, contact the Joint Center at JointCenter@harc.edu.North Texas Expert Envisions a New Transportation Strategy
The Director of Transportation at NCTCOG sees the need for a new, more diverse approach to solving traffic and air quality problems. The current single-occupant mindset focuses on more lanes and freeway expansions as the remedy. Dr. Michael Morris disagrees with approaches that cannot be sustained into the future. “Mixed-use sustainable development integrated with transportation choices where we can live, work, shop, and go to school without relying on automobiles must be part of any region as large as ours,” he says. To alleviate traffic congestion and improve air quality, Morris suggests a revamping of the old roadway infrastructure, an increased emphasis on transit alternatives, and more strategies for reducing emissions from mobile sources.Michael Morris Article - Dallas Morning News
TTI's Emissions Testing Report and Video Available
The Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) is analyzing results from high-speed emission testing at its recently opened west Texas test track, the Pecos Research & Testing Center. Mobile source modeling currently lacks high-speed emissions data that reflect real-world driving speeds. TTI researchers developed drive-cycles for these tests of heavy-duty and light-duty test vehicles. The “Drive Cycle Development for Determining High Speed Emission Rates” report and a video clip of the test track project are available on the Joint Center website.Joint Center Project - Vehicle Emission Rates
National News
Value Pricing: Is the Price Right?
In March 2007, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced 12 grants for “value pricing” projects, most in California and Minnesota. These projects demonstrate how travel might be priced to reduce congestion, reduce trips, and improve air quality. The Seattle area, for example, is using Global Positioning System (GPS) units so that drivers can choose how they spend their travel “allowances.” If participants make decisions that keep them out of congested travel times, they get to keep the money they save. Other funded projects use concepts such as a mileage-based user fees, car sharing, toll pricing, and variable parking costs to achieve congestion reductions. Many of these ideas combine new technologies with economic principles in ways that may change the way we travel. For more information see:FWHA Press Release - Value Pricing Grants
Technology/Breaking Research
Using Vehicle and Roadside Communications for Better Air Quality
Today's vehicles can provide gigabytes of travel data, even transmitting this information to distant locations and communicating with the driver. Vehicle location, engine performance, fuel efficiency, travel routes, and other data can combine with current cell phone technologies to greatly improve travel decisions. Such vehicle-based information systems are being coupled with roadway-based information to save lives, reduce congestion, and clean the air. Georgia Tech researchers have been using these technologies to understand how they can be applied. Their presentation (see link below) examines how smart vehicles, roadside communication infrastructure, and short-range communications could work together.Georgia Tech - Connecting It All
Commentary
Biodiesel: A Potentially Renewable Replacement for Petroleum Diesel
By Rudy Smaling, PhD and Senior Research Scientist, HARCBiodiesel is a diesel fuel alternative that has shown potential of becoming a commercially accepted part of the United States' energy infrastructure. Since the creation of a Federal excise tax credit for biodiesel in 2004, production of this alternative fuel has grown threefold every year to 56 thousand metric tons in 2006. Globally, the leading biodiesel producing country is Germany with 2006 production of 2.4 million metric tons, accounting for roughly 50% of worldwide production. Read more...
Next Issue: How the Houston Region Changes the Transportation Air Quality Equation
About Us
 Joint Center for Transportation & Air Quality |
The Joint Center for Transportation & Air Quality is a multi-year, multi-organization program utilizing applied and field research to better understand and solve air quality problems, particularly those associated with transportation in key Texas urban centers such as Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth. Joint Center partners include: HARC, the University of Texas at Austin, the Texas Transportation Institute, Texas A&M at Galveston, and Lamar University. Please visit our website at www.harc.edu/JointCenter/ for more information. |