MOVES, the Motor Vehicle Emissions Simulator Model, is the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) state-of-the-art tool for estimating emissions from highway vehicles. This handbook is a resource for MOVES users who wish to develop their own local input data for State Implementation Plan (SIP) development, regional conformity analysis, project-level analysis, or any other purpose. The handbook provides information on alternative sources of local input data and the advantages and disadvantages of each. The handbook also provides sample datasets that users may use as a template for developing their own local data, or in some cases to represent local conditions if local data are not available. Finally, the handbook describes tools available to assist MOVES users in processing data to prepare MOVES inputs. The handbook was written for MOVES 2010b but remains applicable to MOVES2014. This handbook supplements other MOVES documentation, guidance, and tools provided by EPA, including: • The MOVES user guide; • Guidance for use of the MOVES model in regional SIP and conformity analysis2 greenhouse gas (GHG) analysis; 3 and particulate matter (PM) 2.5 and carbon monoxide (CO) hotspot analysis; and • Data processing tools, such as MOBILE6 to MOVES data converters, already developed by EPA. These are available on EPA’s web site. The handbook does not supersede EPA guidance, and inclusion of a particular data source or method in this document does not imply EPA’s endorsement. EPA, through the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) or state-wide interagency process, will need to approve any data or methods when MOVES is used for regulatory purposes, and MOVES practitioners should ensure they follow standard requirements for consulting with EPA and other agencies in such situations. The handbook is presented in two volumes, addressing the use of MOVES at different domains/scales: • Volume 1 provides resource material on developing inputs for a “regional” (county, multicounty, or state) level of application, using the County Domain/Scale of MOVES. This is the scale that must be used when doing State Implementation Plan or regional conformity analysis. The model replaces national “default” allocations for each input with user-supplied data for each county and year to be analyzed. • Volume 2 provides resource material on developing inputs for a project level of analysis, using the Project Domain/Scale of MOVES. This scale allows the user to model the emission effects from a group of specific roadway links and/or a single off-network location. The resource material is relevant to the use of MOVES for both inventory and emission rate development (calculation types). In a few cases, the choice of calculation type affects the input requirements. Differences in input requirements for inventory and emission rate calculations are noted. The remaining sections of this volume of the handbook include: • Section 2.0 — Overview of MOVES Inputs. • Section 3.0 — Sensitivity of Model Outputs to Inputs. This section provides information on the relative impact of different inputs on outputs (emissions inventories or rates), to help the user in determining where to focus resources on developing and refining inputs. • Section 4.0 — Options for Developing Local Input Data. This section provides detailed information in each MOVES input required for county/regional scale analysis, including alternative data sources, data processing methods, tools, and examples. • Section 5.0 — Examples. This section provides examples illustrating the development of a complete set of MOVES inputs for regional-level application. Two examples are provided, one for an area with limited data availability, and one for an area for more extensive data availability. • Section 6.0 — References. • Section 7.0 — List of Acronyms. Example dataset 1 (http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/docs/NCHRP25-38_HBExampleNo1…), example dataset 2 (http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/docs/NCHRP25-38_HBExampleNo2…), example dataset 3 (http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/docs/NCHRP25-38_HBExampleNo3…), and the MOVES tools (http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/docs/NCHRP25-38_MOVES-Tools…) are available for download. (Author/publisher)
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