This document was prepared and published by the Memphis Metropolitan Planning Organization and is prepared in 

cooperation with or with financial assistance from all or several of the following public entities: the Federal Transit 

Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, the Tennessee and Mississippi Department of Transportation, the 

Memphis Area Transit Authority, and the local governments in the MPO region. 

It is the policy of the Memphis Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) not to discriminate on the basis of 

age, sex, race, color, national origin or disability in its hiring or employment practices, or in its admission to or operations 

of its program, services, or activities. All inquiries for Title VI and/or the American Disabilities Act, contact John Paul Shaffer 

at 901-576-7130 or john.shaffer@memphistn.gov. 

AIR QUALITY CONFORMITY:

  

CONFORMITY DETERMINATION REPORT – Amendment 1 Desoto County

MEMPHIS URBAN AREA  

2014‐2017 TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM  

TIP Project # MS‐LSTP‐2002‐02

Getwell Road

February 17, 2014

Memphis Metropolitan Planning Organization

Memphis & Shelby County Office of Planning and Development
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Introduction

This conformity determination report documents the Air Quality Conformity analysis for amendment of the

2014‐2017 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) for the Desoto County Non‐Attainment Area.  The Desoto

County Air Quality Conformity Demonstration was approved on April 25, 2013 by the MPO Transportation Policy

Board (TPB).  The Mississippi Division of the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration

Region IV in coordination with the Environmental Protection Agency Region IV concurred on June 11, 2013

(2011‐2014 TIP) and on October 28, 2013 (2014‐2017 TIP) that the DeSoto County Air Quality Conformity

Demonstration meets the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for 8‐hour ozone as approved by the Memphis

MPO Transportation Policy Board on April 25, 2013.  The TIP is a subset of the 2040 Long Range Transportation

Plan (LRTP) prepared by the Memphis Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and approved by

the TPB on February 23, 2012. The 2014‐2017 TIP was prepared by the Memphis MPO and was approved by the

TPB on September 12, 2013. A copy of the existing 2040 LRTP and the 2014‐2017 TIP are available on the MPO’s

website at www.memphismpo.org.

Periodically, as needs and conditions change, it becomes necessary to amend the TIP.    The current TIP

amendments are listed in Table 1 below.   

Table 1:  Amended Project

TIP # Project Amendment Conformity Status

MS‐LSTP‐2002‐02 Getwell Road Amend Project back into 2014‐2017 TIP with the addition of

$689,597 FY 2014 STP funds for Construction.

Non‐Exempt

Amended Project Recommendations

The amended project recommendation shown in Table 1 is discussed in more detail in the Air Quality Tracking

Sheet. The Getwell Road project was included in the 2011‐14 TIP and is being amended back into the 2014‐17

TIP, because the funds were not obligated prior to the 2014‐17 TIP being adopted.  The changes to the Getwell

Road project from Goodman Road to the Tennessee State Line include the addition of $689,597 in FY 2014 STP

funds for construction.    The additional funding for construction does not impact the travel demand model

results or the air quality conformity analysis.   

The previous conformity analysis and documentation for DeSoto County assumed that the project would be

open to traffic in the analysis year of 2015.  The schedule now indicates that the opening day for the Getwell

Road project will be 2017.  Since it is clear that the project will not be open to traffic in 2015, the conformity

analysis was revised for the analysis year of 2015 and the results are provided as part of this report.  All other

analysis year emissions are unchanged.   

As previously agreed upon by the IAC, the planning assumptions developed for the current 2014‐17 TIP and the

LRTP are applicable based on the 2040 Desoto County Non‐Attainment Area MOVES Air Quality Conformity

Demonstration, approved by the TPB on April 25, 2013.

Financial Constraint

The total funding identified in the amended TIP for the project listed in Table 1 indicates that the 2014‐17 TIP

will remain fiscally constrained.

Mobile Source Emissions and Air Quality Conformity

The conformity tests specified in the federal transportation conformity rule are: (1) the emissions budget test,

and (2) the emissions reduction test. For the emissions budget test, predicted emissions for the TIP/LRTP must

be less than or equal to the motor vehicle emissions budget (MVEB) specified in the approved air quality

implementation plan or the emissions budget found to be adequate for transportation conformity purposes. If
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there is no approved air quality plan for a pollutant for which the region is in non‐attainment or no emission

budget has been found to be adequate for transportation conformity purposes, the emissions reduction test

applies. In the DeSoto County portion of the Memphis region, no MVEBs are specified.  As a result, the emissions

reduction test was used, with the year 2011 as the established baseline condition.  

The planning assumptions developed for the 2040 Desoto County Non‐Attainment Area MOVES Air Quality

Conformity Demonstration, approved on April 25, 2013 by the MPO Transportation Policy Board and found to be

in conformity by the Mississippi Division of the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit

Administration Region IV in coordination with the Environmental Protection Agency Region IV, are applicable for

this report.   All of the planning assumptions and methodology documented in the June 26, 2013 Air Quality

Conformity Demonstration for the DeSoto County Non‐Attainment Area were used for this analysis.  The Getwell

Road project in the amended 2014‐17 TIP was modeled in the Regional Travel Demand Model for 2020, 2030

and 2040; and was omitted in the 2015 analysis year.  The total NOx and VOC emissions for each analysis year

and source type are shown in Table 2 and Table 3.

Table 2 – Total NOx Emissions (grams/day) by Source Type and Analysis Year

Source Type Source

Type ID

Analysis Year

2011 2015 2020 2030 2040

Motorcycle 11 9,141 10,016 10,551 12,570 14,985

Passenger Car 21 3,335,488 2,923,440 1,695,355 1,088,648 1,133,457

Passenger Truck 31 1,730,330 1,559,796 987,480 668,890 726,120

Light Commercial Truck 32 489,593 454,740 305,522 282,458 354,505

Intercity Bus 41 21,203 13,698 8,457 4,463 5,440

Transit Bus 42 4,966 3,000 1,786 1,000 1,234

School Bus 43 13,543 10,828 8,982 4,759 3,994

Refuse Truck 51 24,380 11,593 6,292 3,362 3,517

Single Unit Short‐haul Truck 52 538,787 379,904 346,586 345,446 434,783

Single Unit Long‐haul Truck 53 66,613 53,406 52,134 51,019 62,799

Motor Home 54 37,801 32,448 33,158 31,680 36,215

Combination Short‐haul Truck 61 684,061 408,382 310,335 214,580 255,781

Combination Long‐haul Truck 62 1,180,769 914,886 924,628 908,357 1,183,497

Total NOx Emissions 8,136,675 6,776,140 4,691,265 3,617,231 4,216,326

   
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Table 3 – Total VOC Emissions (grams/day) by Source Type and Analysis Year

Source Type Source

Type ID

Analysis Year

2011 2015 2020 2030 2040

Motorcycle 11 92,393 126,194 154,281 207,029 251,419

Passenger Car 21 2,707,756 2,299,789 1,692,089 1,497,135 1,725,883

Passenger Truck 31 1,316,274 1,111,935 745,819 549,301 600,161

Light Commercial Truck 32 270,637 227,073 160,140 138,888 169,428

Intercity Bus 41 1,144 851 537 346 438

Transit Bus 42 369 261 147 93 119

School Bus 43 2,350 1,563 1,210 779 757

Refuse Truck 51 1,747 978 634 453 513

Single Unit Short‐haul Truck 52 132,316 100,818 91,285 92,915 125,507

Single Unit Long‐haul Truck 53 17,128 14,697 14,369 14,887 19,951

Motor Home 54 19,640 16,942 16,140 14,946 19,605

Combination Short‐haul Truck 61 36,391 24,368 20,558 17,176 21,235

Combination Long‐haul Truck 62 99,331 86,641 95,189 106,485 141,483

Total NOx Emissions 4,697,476 4,012,110 2,992,399 2,640,433 3,076,501

A baseline emissions test was developed for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) for

2011 and compared to the future years identified in the LRTP: 2015, 2020, 2030, and 2040.  Using output from

these model runs and the methodology described in the Conformity Demonstration, MOVES2010b was used to

calculate the total emissions for the ozone precursor pollutants volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen

oxides (NOx). Table 4 below shows the Summary of the Emission Analysis Results for the amended 2014‐17 TIP

Air Quality Conformity Demonstration for DeSoto County.   

Table 4 –  Summary of Total Mobile Source Emissions

Pollutant Emissions (tons/day)

2011* 2015 2020 2030 2040

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) 5.178 4.423 3.299 2.911 3.391

Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) 8.969 7.469 5.171 3.987 4.648

               *Baseline analysis year

The appropriate tests were performed to demonstrate conformity of the Amended 2014‐2017 TIP under the

marginal 8‐hour ozone non‐attainment standards.  On May 21, 2012 the United States Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) designated the portion of Desoto County, MS within the Memphis metropolitan area boundary as

a marginal 8‐hour ozone moderate non‐attainment area (77 FR 30088).    As required by the transportation

conformity regulations, the tests were carried out and the results of the analysis are provided in the 2040

Desoto County Non‐Attainment Area MOVES Air Quality Conformity Demonstration.   As demonstrated in the

LRTP and the 2014‐17 TIP, it was determined that the FY 2014‐17 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP)

and the Memphis Urban Area 2040 Long‐Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) conform under the 2008 8‐hour

ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards.

For this 2014‐17 TIP amendment, it was determined that:

 There are no factors in the amended TIP that would cause or contribute to a new violation or exacerbate

an existing violation in the years before the first analysis year for any portion of the maintenance area.

 No goals, directives, recommendations or projects identified in the amended TIP contradicts in a

negative manner any specific requirements or commitments of the applicable State Implementation

Plan,
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 None of the revisions or any other element of the Transportation Plan and TIP interferes with the

implementation of TCMs contained in the applicable implementation plan(s).

 The ozone precursors, VOC and NOx emissions in Desoto County do not exceed the baseline emissions

for 2011, or the interim tests for 2015, 2020, 2030 and 2040.    Therefore, the 2014‐17 TIP and LRTP

remain in conformance with the Mississippi SIP.

Interagency Consultation and Public Involvement

Interagency consultation is the central coordinating mechanism for public agency involvement and input to the

conformity determination. The conformity determination must be made according to 40 CFR §93.105‐(a)‐(2) and

(e) and the requirements of 23 CFR 450 (40 CFR §93.112, Criteria and Procedures).

The Memphis MPO coordinated its activities for this conformity determination with numerous stakeholders and

review agencies, including Desoto County, Shelby County, Shelby County Health Department, Mississippi

Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC)

Division of Pollution Control, local municipalities, MDOT, TDOT, FHWA, EPA and other necessary agencies. IAC

team comments associated with this 2014‐17 TIP amendment were solicited by the Memphis MPO by email on

January 7, 2014.  

The Memphis MPO has a Public Participation Plan, which was adopted on December 15, 2011. This plan specifies

procedures to ensure public involvement in the planning process. All MPO meetings are open to the public for

comments as appropriate. The public will be notified of the opportunities to comment on these TIP and LRTP

Amendments. All comments received from the public, committee members, and review agencies are

appropriately addressed and documented.