Air Quality Improvement Program: Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ) and Carbon Reduction Program (CRP)
The San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG), acting in its role as a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), is programming approximately $3 million in annual federal transportation Air Quality Improvement revenues that will come to the San Luis Obispo region.
In the San Luis Obispo Region, the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) program funds transportation projects or programs that contribute to attainment or maintenance of the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), including those that reduce ozone precursor emissions (including nitrogen oxides (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOC), carbon monoxide (CO), and particulate matter (PM) emissions or PM precursor (e.g. NOx) emissions from transportation.
In November 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), was passed into law. With the passage of IIJA, the Carbon Reduction Program (CRP) was created. The purpose of the CRP is to provide federal funding to projects that decrease transportation emissions, which are defined as the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that result from on-road, highway sources.
Final 2023 Performance Based Air Quality Improvement Program Funding Guidelines
These guidelines are prepared to inform the public and potential project applicants of the funding and programming process being made available through two specific Federal Air Quality Improvement programs – Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program (CMAQ) available annually to our region since 2012, and the Carbon Reduction Program available annually since 2022 and for five years of funding.
Both of the CMAQ and CRP programs enables communities to build public awareness about the link between transportation and air quality. The programs are used to fund infrastructure and programmatic applications to improve transportation systems, or increase non-motorized services, as a few examples.
For more information contact John DiNunzio [email protected]