Air quality conformity determination for the Amended Regional Transportation Plan (“Plan 2035”) and the FY 2012-2015 Transportation Improvement Program
Pursuant to the federal transportation planning regulations, 23 CFR Part 450, the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA), Inc. is soliciting comments from citizens, public agencies, employee representatives, private providers of transportation, and other interested parties on the air quality conformity determination for the Amended Regional Transportation Plan (“Plan 2035”) and the FY 2012-2015 Transportation Improvement Program for the NJTPA portions of the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT 8-hour Ozone Nonattainment Area, and the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, PA-NJ-MD-DE 8-hour Ozone Nonattainment Area.
The NJTPA has determined that the amended Regional Transportation Plan (“Plan 2035”) and the FY 2012-2015 Transportation Improvement Program for northern New Jersey conform to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) established by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). This includes a determination that the FY 2012 TIP and amended Plan 2035 meet the conformity requirements of the 2008 ozone NAAQS. Conformity is the process, established by joint guidance from the United States Department of Transportation and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) that ensures that transportation investments will contribute to improving air quality in areas where concentrations of certain pollutants exceed national standards. Comments must be received by April 26, 2013.
Documents summarizing the amendments are available upon request from the NJTPA or via the NJTPA web site, at:
http://www.njtpa.org/Plan/Element/AQ/conformity.aspx#drafts.
The documents also are on file at the NJTPA, One Newark Center, 17th Floor, Newark, New Jersey 07102 and are available at New Jersey Library Network libraries in the NJTPA region. Comments may be submitted by mail to the above address or faxed to (973) 639-1953 (Attn: Ted Ritter) or emailed to tritter@njtpa.org. For more information, call (973) 639-8447.
To provide comments or feedback to the NJTPA on other issues, see the NJTPA Feedback Forum. The link at right provides access to the NJTPA Public Participation Plan.