Trip Reduction |
Why
was the program created?
In
April 1985 the Center for Law and Public Interest filed
suit against Maricopa County and the State of Arizona
for failure to meet the Ambient
Air Quality Standards for carbon monoxide. The federal
court ordered the State of Arizona to write a State Implementation
Plan (SIP) to comply with the standards. In response,
the Arizona Legislature passed the 1988 Air Quality Bill
(ARS 49-581 et seq.) which mandated a Trip Reduction Program
(TRP) for employers and schools in Maricopa County. The
original county ordinance affected employers and schools
with 100 or more employees and/or driving-age students.
There have since been two ordinance revisions which have
reduced the required number of employees and/or students
from 100 down to 50.
The
Maricopa County Division of Trip Reduction administers this
statute and our responsibilities include the following:
-
Distributing and processing TRP surveys
-
Providing survey analyses
-
Reviewing TRP plans
-
Submitting TRP plans to the Task Force
-
Monitoring program compliance
What
are the goals of the program?
Employers and schools are asked to reduce single occupant
vehicle trips and/or miles traveled to the work site by
10 percent a year for a total of five years, and then 5
percent for three additional years, or until a 60 percent
rate of SOV travel is reached.
Why
does the program continue? How bad is our air?
Maricopa County continues to exceed the EPA national ambient
air quality standards for carbon monoxide, PM-10, which
is particulate matter that is 10 microns or less in size
and commonly known as dust, and ground-level ozone, commonly
called smog. This pollution also has a negative affect on
our health; we have one of the highest rates of chronic
obtrusive lung disease in the nation. Motor vehicles and
other gasoline-powered machinery, such as lawn mowers, generators
and tractors, are the primary cause of these pollutants.
Each
time we drive our automobiles, they spew pollutants into
the air. In the urbanized area of Maricopa County, commuters drive
over 60 million miles each weekday. By 2015, we are expected
to drive over 100 million miles per day. (Source: MAG-TPO).
All this driving causes tons of carbon monoxide to be released
into the air.
Each
day approximately 70 percent of all carbon monoxide produced
is created by passenger cars, pick-up trucks and motorcycles.
Combined they release over 770 tons of carbon monoxide into
the atmosphere each day and 3,000 tons of particulates.
(Source: ADEQ).
For
more information:
Or call us at (602) 506-6750. |
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